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News

8 October 2007

 

Lumileds refutes Epistar’s claims of US Customs clearance for Phoenix and Aquarius LEDs

According to Philips Lumileds Lighting Co of San Jose, CA, USA, on 29 September Epistar Corp of Hsinchu, Taiwan erroneously asserted that US Customs and Border Protection ruled that its new Aquarius and Phoenix lines of ultra-bright AlGaInP LEDs are not subject to the limited exclusion order issued by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and currently on appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Philips Lumileds says that discussions with US Customs have confirmed that the agency has issued no such order, and has neither cleared the Phoenix or Aquarius LEDs for importation nor found that they do not infringe Philips Lumileds’ US Patent No. 5,008,718.

The ITC’s exclusion order prohibits the import of all of Epistar’s LED products that infringe Philips Lumileds’, including its AlGaInP-based omni-directional mirror adhesion (OMA), metal-bonded (MB) and glue-bonded (GB) LEDs (and next-generation OMA II, MB II and GB II LED s ) , and any other Epistar product, such as the Phoenix and Aquarius LEDs, that may be determined to infringe. The exclusion order further applies to packaged LED products containing the infringing Epistar LEDs and boards consisting primarily of arrays of such packaged LEDs. Companies that use, import, or sell these unlicensed infringing products, even unknowingly, are direct infringers of the patent and are subject to the exclusion order, says Philips Lumileds.

Last week the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied Epistar’s motion to stay the exclusion order for the duration of the appeals process, finding that Epistar had “failed to meet its burden” to justify such an order. The ITC earlier denied a similar request from Epistar on 11 September.

Philips Lumileds also has a pending action in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, in which it is asserting its patent rights against Epistar’s products and seeking both damages and an injunction.

See related items:

Appeals court denies Epistar’s request for stay of ITC exclusion order

ITC denies Epistar’s motion to stay exclusion order

US appeal court temporarily blocks ITC’s exclusion order on Epistar

ITC’s US exclusion order comes into force on Epistar’s MB, GB and OMA LEDs, just as new Phoenix and Aquarius LEDs launched …

ITC adopts exclusion order against Epistar's MB LEDs; will review whether OMA and GB LEDs also infringe Lumileds patent

Round two: Epistar responds to Philips Lumileds

Judge's Initial Determination favours Philips Lumileds in patent infringement battle

Visit: www.epistar.com.tw

Visit: www.philipslumileds.com