Seoul enters into a cross license agreement with TOE Europe and its patent partners. Based on this agreement, Seoul enhances its flexibility in manufacturing LEDs.

Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. ("Seoul Semiconductor") announced that the United States Court for the Central District of California rendered a judgment  denying all the claims of Nichia Corporation and Nichia America Corporation ("Nichia") in a lawsuit that Nichia filed against Seoul Semiconductor under the Lanham Act and California state law:

Seoul Semiconductor (hereafter "Seoul") announced that it won another victory over Nichia in a patent lawsuit in Korea.

Lighting Science Group Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: LSCG) (LSG), a developer and integrator of intelligent LED lighting solutions, today announced that on October 7, 2008, the Superior Court of California for Sacramento County issued a preliminary injunction against Philips Solid State Lighting Solutions, Inc., Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. and Philips Electronics North America Corporation (collectively "Philips").

Lighting Science Group Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: LSCG) (LSG), a developer and integrator of intelligent LED lighting solutions, today announced in conjunction with its annual shareholders' meeting, that there have been further developments in its on-going dispute with Philips Solid State Lighting Solutions, Inc., Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. and Philips Electronics North America Corporation (collectively "Philips").

Korea Intellectual Property Tribunal (“KIPT”) ruled that a patent, related to LED element, (Patent # KP 491482, hereinafter “’482 patent”) owned by Nichia Corporation (“Nichia) is invalid based on lack of inventiveness. Thus yet another of Nichia’s patents has been invalidated by KIPT, following a ruling in July, 2008 when KIPT invalidated a previous Nichia patent.

LED luminaire manufacturers can now use key components from OSRAM without having to pay license fees to Philips because OSRAM has acquired special rights from Philips. Luminaire manufacturers are therefore released from the costs resulting from the LED luminaire license program recently published by Philips.

Seoul Semiconductor (hereafter "Seoul") officially announced it had the means to establish its non-infringement of any valid claim in a lawsuit brought by Nichia Corporation (hereafter "Nichia") in the English High Court, in which Nichia asserts that Nichia asserts through their website and press release that Seoul's Acriche products infringe its patented "annealing" technology. Regarding this lawsuit, Seoul believes it has sufficient prior art to have Nichia's patent revoked as it is invalid.

Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) filed a new action for infringement and damages in the U.K. against Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (“Seoul Semiconductor”; incorporated in Korea) and other(s) based on the EP(UK) 0 541,373 patent, “Method of Manufacturing P-type Compound Semiconductor,”(the Annealing Patent) which is one of Nichia’s most important patents and relates to a thermal annealing method for manufacturing a p type GaN-based semiconductor.

Nichia Corporation announced today that the Seoul Central District Court rendered a decision that Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. is liable for defamation, and ordered Seoul Semiconductor to pay Nichia a damages amount of KRW 10,000,000, as well as take appropriate corrective measures to restore Nichia’s reputation.

Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. ("Seoul"), a leading Korean light emitting diode (LED) manufacturer, announced that it plans to vigorously defend a lawsuit filed by Nichia Corporation ( "Nichia") in the Eastern District of Michigan claiming infringement of US patent 6,870,191. After review of Nichia's '191 patent, Seoul believes that Nichia's lawsuit lacks merit and that the patent's LED substrate is patterned with a protruded and recessed trapezoid, which is different from Seoul's products.

Nichia Corporation ("Nichia") announced today that it filed a patent infringement suit on August 18, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. ("SSC"), a Korean company, its U.S. subsidiary, Seoul Semiconductor, Inc. and its U.S. distributor, Avnet, Inc, seeking an injunction from future infringements and an award of damages.

Seoul Semiconductor has a confident position to Nichia's assertion regarding to patent infringement because Acriche uses different technology from Nichia’s patent range.

Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against a Korean company, Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. (“Seoul Semiconductor”), a German subsidiary of Seoul Semiconductor, Seoul Semiconductor Europe GmbH, and its German distributor, Conrad Electronic SE seeking injunctive relief and compensation for damages.

Luminus Devices, Inc., the developer and manufacturer of PhlatLight® (Photonic Lattice) LEDs that are used in display and lighting applications, today announced it has received its 21st United States patent for its PhlatLight technology.  This rapidly growing patent portfolio highlights Luminus Devices’ technology leadership in the LED industry.  And with 120 additional patents pending in the United States and foreign countries, Luminus will continue its leadership in solid state lighting innovation.  

Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Today Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) introduces a patent licensing program for LED-based luminaires used in the general illumination, architectural and theatrical markets. It is Philips’ policy to share its intellectual property for basic control inventions for LED-based luminaires through licensing. This Philips IP addresses the basic control technologies required in a broad range of LED lighting applications. This new program extends the former Color Kinetics licensing program to enable faster growth of the Solid State Lighting market.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in LED lighting, announces that it has entered into an agreement with Toyoda Gosei providing the companies (including wholly owned affiliates) with access to each other’s patented LED chip and packaged LED technology (including white LED technology). Toyoda Gosei and Cree have agreed in the future to discuss “have made” rights for LED chips.

In the side view LED design patent infringement litigation between Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. (“Seoul”) and Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”), Judge Chesney of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an "Order Denying Plaintiff's [Nichia's] Motion for Finding of Exceptional Case and Award Attorney's Fees." By the motion, Nichia sought approximately $2.5 million in fees against Seoul.  In her order, Judge Chesney ruled that it "would not be appropriate" to award fees to Nichia and that the case was not exceptional.

Epistar Corporation obtained a worldwide license from Dr. Neumark for the ’499 Patent as well as Dr. Neumark’s United States Patent No. 4,904,618, issued February 27, 1990.

Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) announced today that it filed an action with Tokyo District Court against Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. of Japan (“Seoul Semiconductor of Japan”), a Japanese subsidiary of Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (“Seoul Semiconductor”), in which Nichia claims for the prohibition of infringement upon the patent right held by Nichia and compensation for damages.

Professor Emerita Gertrude Neumark Rothchild (“Prof. Neumark”), of Columbia University, filed a complaint in the United States International Trade Commission  against 34 companies on February 19, 2008. Everlight signed a settlement and non-exclusive license agreement with Prof. Neumark on April 11, 2008.

Concerning the matter of the complaint filed with the United States International Trade Commission (the “ITC”) by Dr. Gertrude Neumark Rothschild (“Dr. Neumark”) of New York State, U.S.A., on February 20, 2008, seeking a block on imports, etc., of short-wavelength LEDs, etc., based on U.S. patent No. 5252499 (“the ’499 patent”) held by Dr. Neumark, please be informed as follows.

Seoul Semiconductor, one of the world’s leading LED manufacturers, signed a license agreement with Professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild of the United States in early April 2008. Professor Neumark Rothschild, formerly with Columbia University, filed a complaint in the United States International Trade Commission (US ITC) against 34 companies on February 19, 2008.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to institute an investigation of certain short-wavelength light emitting diodes, laser diodes, and products containing same. The products at issue in this investigation are short-wavelength (e.g., blue, violet) LEDs and laser diodes that are used in products such as hand-held mobile devices, instrument panels, billboards, traffic lights, HD DVD players (e.g., Blu-ray disc players), and data storage devices. 30 companies are affected by the investigation.

Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, the new entity formed by Philips' acquisition of Color Kinetics, and Renaissance Lighting have completed a licensing agreement that provides Renaissance Lighting with access to Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions' worldwide patent portfolio. The agreement enables Renaissance Lighting to offer its own intelligent LED lighting products, as well as to use Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions' core technology in other new product development.

Intematix Corp. a leading innovator of advanced materials solutions and provider of patent-backed merchant phosphor products for solid state lighting applications, today announced the addition of US Patent Number 7,311,858 for silicate based yellow-green phosphors to its growing intellectual property portfolio. Yellow-green phosphors are typically combined with a blue LED emitter to produce energy efficient solid state white lighting in a growing variety of applications.

Cree, a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors that enhance the value of LED solid-state lighting products by significantly increasing their energy performance, has got granted patent number US7,335,920B2,  dealing with enhancement of LED efficiency. 

Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ:CATS) a supplier of analog, mixed-signal and non-volatile memory semiconductors, announced it has received a patent for a unique step-down switching regulator circuit architecture applicable to step-down regulators for driving high brightness LEDs.  The patent, titled “LED current bias control using step-down regulator” (patent number 7,323,828), was developed to simplify the design of high brightness LED lighting in emerging household, commercial and automotive lighting applications. 

High brightness LEDs are mounted directly on a heat pipe or are mounted on a substrate, which is mounted on the heat pipe. The heat pipe can be a common electrode for the LEDs mounted on the heat pipe. Multiple heat pipes can be arranged so that the LED arrays form a light recycling cavity to emit and reflect light.

OSRAM has granted a license, in return for an appropriate fee, to PerkinElmer Inc., the American supplier of precision and photonic components, that allows it to manufacture and market white LEDs with conversion technology. The patent for this technology is held by the OSRAM subsidiary OSRAM Opto Semiconductors.

A monolithic, multi-color semiconductor light emitting diode (LED) is formed with a multi-bandgap, multi-quantum well (MQW) active light emitting region which emits light at spaced-apart wavelength bands or regions ranging from UV to red. The MQW active light emitting region comprises a MQW layer stack including n quantum barriers which space apart n−1 quantum wells. Embodiments include those wherein the MQW layer stack includes quantum wells of at least two different bandgaps for emitting light of two different wavelengths, e.g., in the blue or green regions and in at least one other region, and the intensities of the emissions are adjusted to provide a preselected color of combined light emission, preferably white light.m barrier, a 3rd green quantum well, a quantum barrier, a 1st blue quantum well, a quantum barrier, a 2nd blue quantum well, and a quantum barrier.