29 November 2011

Karlsruhe court rules that Dominant violates Osram patents

The higher regional court Karlsruhe in Germany has confirmed that Malaysian LED maker Dominant is illegally using or has used technology belonging to Germany’s Osram AG in relation to seven patents.

As the court of first instance, the regional court Mannheim had already reached the same verdict regarding three of these patents on 25 July 2007. Osram had sued Dominant on several patents and industrial properties. “The ruling of the court of appeal in Karlsruhe is an important confirmation of our intellectual property rights,” says Aldo Kamper, CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH in Regensburg, Germany.

The key group of patents (whose infringement the appeal court in Karlsruhe has confirmed) effects conversion technology that helps to produce homogeneous white light. Osram says that the group of patents is essential, as they are used in multiple forms of white LEDs.

Osram says that its legal position against Dominant has already been confirmed in other countries. In the USA, the International Trade Commission (ITC) imposed an import ban on certain Dominant products in February 2006 due to patent infringement. Conversely, suits filed by Dominant against Osram for inadmissable claims of patent infringement and improper exploitation of patent positions have been rejected by courts in both the USA and Malaysia.

Tags: Osram LEDs

Visit: www.osram-os.com