Seoul Semiconductor Continuously Pursues patent infringement actions against Everlight products

• Seoul brought a series of patent enforcement actions against Mid-Power LEDs and High Power LEDs manufactured by Everlight
• Seoul sought a permanent injunction, and recall and destruction of Everlight products
• Seoul will continuously file enforcements actions against distributors and manufacturers of allegedly infringing products

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ 046890) — On April 28, 2017, Seoul Semiconductor Europe GmbH (“Seoul”) filed a patent infringement claim in Germany at the District Court of Düsseldorf against Mouser Electronic Inc. (“Mouser), a global electronic components distributor, which it accused of selling Everlight LED products.

In its complaint, Seoul asserted that Everlight’s Mid-Power LED products are infringing Seoul’s patent rights. Seoul has sought a permanent injunction, damages, and recall and destruction of the allegedly infringing products.

The asserted patent serves to improve the light extraction performance of LED devices by enhancing internal-reflection efficiency, which has been widely used in mid-power and high-power LEDs.

This patent litigation is the second patent infringement litigation by Seoul or its affiliate affecting Everlight’s LED products. In March 2017, Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. filed a patent infringement claim in Germany, accusing high-power LED products manufactured by Everlight as well as other LED manufacturers. These patent litigations underscore Seoul’s commitment to protecting its intellectual property rights against infringement, including products consisting of mid-power LEDs and high-power LEDs.

In addition to Seoul’s patent infringement actions, Everlight has been implicated in other patent infringement lawsuits as described below. Nam Ki-bum, Vice President of the Research Center at Seoul, said, “Several LED companies have grown rapidly in a short period of time despite a lack of valuable patent portfolios, which is like building a castle on quicksand. There is no underlying foundation for the company’s products. Seoul, however, has been investing 10% of its revenue in research and development for many years to develop innovative technology and strengthen our patent portfolio. To support a fair market that respects intellectual property rights, Seoul will continuously monitor and take action against alleged infringers in any countries where infringement occurs.”

* Reference [source: various media news articles]

<Table: Recent LED industry Patent Litigations relating to Everlight products>

Plaintiff	Defendant	Business Relation	Patented Technology	Courts	State	Link
Nichia	WOFI Leuchten	Everlight subsidiary	phosphor	Düsseldorf District Court, Germany	Nichia won the suit in the court of first instance and the court ruled for an injunction	http://www.ledinside.com/news/2016/12 /nichia_clinches_two_legal_victories_ag ainst_everlight_in_german_district_court s http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia/2 016/2016_122102.html
Nichia	REGO-Lighting	Used a white LED tube light product by Everlight subsidiary Zenar	phosphor	Düsseldorf District Court, Germany	On Dec. 5, 2016, the appeals court confirmed patent infringement and ruled in favor of Nichia.	http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia/2 016/2016_122101.html http://www.ledinside.com/news/2016/12/ nichia_clinches_two_legal_victories_aga inst_everlight_in_german_district_courts
Nichia	Everlight	Everlight	phosphor	Düsseldorf District Court, Germany	On Oct. 24, 2016, the court granted a preliminary injunction.	http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia/2 016/2016_111701.html http://www.ledinside.com/news/2016/11/ german_court_grants_nichia_preliminary _injunctions_for_white_led_products_that _infringed_patents
Nichia	Tachibana Eletech and E&E Japan	Distributor of blue LEDs manufactured by Everlight in Japan	LED chip	Tokyo District Court, Japan	On Oct. 14, 2016, the court issued an oder ruled for an infringement in favor of Nichia.	http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia/2016 /2016_102001.html http://www.ledinside.com/press/2016/10/nich ia_wins_patent_infringement_lawsuit_agains t_tachibana_and_ee_japan_in_tokyo
Nichia	Mouser	Distributor of Everlight products	phosphor	Düsseldorf District Court, Germany	On Oct. 7, 2016, the court granted a preliminary injunction.	http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia/2 016/2016_101301.html http://www.ledinside.com/news/2016/10/g erman_court_grants_preliminary_injunctio n_against_mouser_based_on_nichia_yag _patent
Nichia	Everlight	Everlight	LED Package	The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas	The Federal Circuit affirmed an infringement of Nichia’s patents.	http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia/20 17/2017_050901.html http://www.ledinside.com/news/2017/5/nic hia_wins_important_victory_in_federal_ci rcuit_appeal
Nichia	EBV Elektronik GmbH & Co. KG and EBV Management GmbH (both “EBV“)	Distributor of Everlight products	phosphor	Düsseldorf District Court, Germany	Still in progress	http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia /2017/2017_030802.html http://www.ledinside.com/press/2017/3/nichia _files_patent_infringement_lawsuit_against_ ebv_in_germany_regarding_white_led_ product_of_everlight
Nichia	Everlight Electronics (China) and Beijing Ducheng Yiguang Electronic Devices Selling Center	Everlight subsidiary	phosphor	Beijing Intellectual Property Court, China	Still in progress	http://www.nichia.co.jp/en/about_nichia /2016/2016_032401.html http://www.ledinside.com/news/2016/3/ nichia_files_new_led_patent_infringem ent_lawsuits_respectively_in_china_an d_us
Seoul Semiconductor	Mouser	Distributor of Everlight products	High Power LED	Düsseldorf District Court, Germany	Still in progress	http://www.ledinside.com/news/2017/4/se oul_semiconductor_files_patent_infringe ment_lawsuit_in_germany
Seoul Semiconductor	Mouser	Distributor of Everlight products	Mid Power LED	Düsseldorf District Court, Germany	On April 28, 2017, Seoul filed the lawsuit.

About Seoul Semiconductor:

Seoul Semiconductor develops and commercializes light emitting diodes (LEDs) for automotive, general illumination, specialty lighting, and backlighting markets. As the fifth-largest LED manufacturer globally, Seoul Semiconductor holds more than 12,000 patents, offers a wide range of technologies, and mass produces innovative LED products such as Wicop – a simpler structured Package-Free LED which provides market leading color uniformity, cost savings at the fixture level with high lumen density and allows design flexibility; Acrich, the world's leading direct AC LED; Acrich MJT multi-junction technology; a proprietary family of high-voltage LEDs; NanoDriver Series – World’s Smallest 24W DC LED Drivers and nPola, a new LED product based on GaN-substrate technology that achieves over ten times the output of conventional LEDs.

For more information about Seoul Semiconductor, please visit http://www.seoulsemicon.com

# Trademarks: Wicop and Acrich are trademarks of Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd.