German Court Orders Permanent Injunction and Recall of Everlight LED Products for Infringement of Seoul Semiconductor’s Patent

Seoul’s patented technologies involved in two litigations against Everlight products (Graphic: Business Wire)

ANSAN, South Korea--()--Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ 046890) (“Seoul”), a leading global innovator of LED products and technology, announced that it won a patent infringement lawsuit against Mouser Electronics, a global distributor of certain accused LED products, in Germany. The accused LED product – 2835 (2.8x3.5mm) LED Package was manufactured by Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. (“Everlight”).

The District Court of Düsseldorf in Germany issued a permanent injunction against the sales of the accused Everlight products and ordered the distributor to recall such products sold after February 2017 from commercial customers. The decision was issued in the first instance.

The patented technology involved in this litigation is a Multi-Wavelength Insulation Reflector technology that serves to efficiently improve light reflectivity from the internal LED structure by attaching a light reflection structure to the LED chip, which would assure durability and high efficiency of lighting significantly [Figure A]. It has been widely applied to most cost effective mid-power LED products, such as those used in lighting, LCD backlight, mobile phone and automotive applications, where power consumption is 0.5W to 3W (watt). The 2835 (2.8x3.5mm), 3030 (3.0x3.0mm) and 5630 (5.6x3.0mm) LED packages are universal products in the industry.

LED technology has evolved from 1st generation to 2nd generation based on continuous innovation. This, a majority of LED products use 2nd generation technology to improve reliability and efficiency. Therefore, this type of technology has become more critical.

Section

Luminous Efficacy

Life time

CRI

Operating Temperature

1st generation

Below 70-80 lm/W

Below 5,000-6,000 hr

Below 70

Below 70-80 ℃

2nd generation

Over 150 lm/W

Over 10,000 hr

Over 80-90

Over 100 ℃

Comparison of each generation’s characteristics

In December 2018, Seoul also obtained permanent injunction against Everlight high power LED product and a recall was issued for such products sold after July 13, 2012 from commercial customers. This patented technology serves to efficiently extract light emitted from the internal LED structure by treating LED chip surfaces [Figure B], and applies to high-power LED products, including UV and white LEDs involved in this litigation. Therefore, Seoul won all 10 patent litigations against Everlight or its distributor in five major countries including Europe and Asia – Korea and Japan. Specifically, Everlight filed a patent invalidation action, but the patent office dismissed it and confirmed the validity of Seoul’s patents.

“In order to create a fair and competitive market, we will continue enforcement efforts to prevent electronics brands, manufacturers and distributors from selling products suspected of infringement. Only then will others, including young entrepreneurs and small businesses, have a chance to have their talents recognized in the market,” said Chung Hoon Lee, founder of Seoul. “We are preparing all legal actions against companies that have suspicions of infringing our patents or of unlawful access to our trade secrets by luring employees and will initiate such actions soon,” added Lee.

About Seoul Semiconductor
Seoul Semiconductor develops and commercializes LEDs for automotive, general illumination, specialty lighting, and backlighting markets. As the second-largest LED manufacturer globally excluding the captive market, Seoul Semiconductor holds more than 14,000 patents, offers a wide range of technologies, and mass produces innovative LED products such as SunLike – delivering the world’s best light quality in a next-generation LED enabling human-centric lighting optimized for circadian rhythms; WICOP – a simpler structured package-free LED which provides market leading color uniformity and cost savings at the fixture level, providing high lumen density and design flexibility; NanoDriver Series – the world’s smallest 24W DC LED drivers; Acrich, the world's first high-voltage AC-driven LED technology developed in 2005, including all AC LED-related technologies from chip to module and circuit fabrication, and nPola, a new LED product based on GaN-substrate technology that achieves more than ten times the output of conventional LEDs. UCD constitutes a high color gamut display which delivers more than 90% NTSC. For more information, please visit www.seoulsemicon.com/en.

Contacts

Seoul Semiconductor Inc.
Jeonghee Kim
Tel: +82-70-4391-8311
Email: jeonghee.kim@seoulsemicon.com

Release Summary

German Court Orders Permanent Injunction and Recall of Everlight LED Products for Infringement of Seoul Semiconductor’s Patent

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Contacts

Seoul Semiconductor Inc.
Jeonghee Kim
Tel: +82-70-4391-8311
Email: jeonghee.kim@seoulsemicon.com