News: LEDs
29 April 2022
Seoul Semiconductor files patent lawsuits over Philips’ TV and filament LED bulbs
South Korean LED maker Seoul Semiconductor Co Ltd says that it has launched patent infringement lawsuits in the USA against global retail company Ace Hardware and in Europe against a distributor of Conrad Electronic’s sales platform.
In the two cases, which are pending in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the German District Court of Düsseldorf, Seoul asserted infringement of its patents by Philips brand TVs, filament LED bulbs, and premium lighting products. Seoul also sought a recall of infringing products as well as the destruction of those products in the German case.
In these lawsuits, Seoul’s patents cover phosphor technology for high-quality color gamut and WICOP (Wafer-level Integrated Chip on PCB) technology.
Seoul says that it has developed its phosphor technology together with a Japanese company (M) over the last 15 years and has succeeded in producing LED lights that are the closest spectrum to natural light. Based on the quality of these lights, Seoul’s phosphor technology can be found in premium lighting products requiring a color rendering index (CRI) of more than 90, as well as display products.
WICOP is a patented technology that is compactly designed without wire bonding or packaging, enabling LEDs to be mounted directly in a PCB assembly. The technology has been adopted in over models of 100 car (comprising about 10% of the global automobile market). The firm adds that it is also used in about 20% of the global TV market, as of 2020.
Seoul has already obtained permanent injunctions against various infringing products several times in Europe and the USA. In September 2020, the German District Court of Düsseldorf issued permanent injunctions, an order of recall and destruction against filament LED bulbs manufactured by a Phillips brand affiliate. In 2019 and 2021, the US District Court for the Central District of California and the New Jersey District Court issued permanent injunctions against the sales of a Philips TV product and 13 automotive lighting brand LED products, respectively.
Seoul Semi obtains injunctions against Philips brand lighting affiliates
Seoul Semi obtains injunction in Germany against Leuchtstark
Seoul Semiconductor wins permanent injunction against Fry’s selling Philips TV product
Seoul Semiconductor files patent lawsuit against second Philips TV display distributor
