Everlight Electronics Co (億光) — the nation’s leading LED chip packager and lighting products supplier — yesterday said it has filed an invalidity complaint with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan over two white LED patents from Nichia Corp.
Everlight’s announcement came after the Japanese LED company said it would claim patent damages against Everlight, based on a German court’s latest ruling.
The German Federal Court of Justice on Tuesday ruled that the Japanese company’s white LED YAG patent is valid in Germany, a decision that overturned the court’s ruling in July last year.
Nichia said its YAG white-light LED patent is of upmost importance for the LED market.
The company said the German court’s decision confirmed the validity of its patent while dismissing in total the nullity action initiated by Everlight.
Nichia said the judgement of the German court is final and legally binding.
In response to the ruling, Everlight said it would file a new invalidity complaint over Nichia’s YAG patent with the German federal court, to protect the interests of Everlight’s clients and shareholders.
Everlight and Nichia have been engaged in a variety of patent disputes around the world for several years.
Everlight has won several white-light LED patent invalidation suits in Japan and Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Intellectual Property Office on Wednesday last week ruled in favor of Everlight, saying Nichia’s patent is invalid as it lacks any new and useful improvements.
The company yesterday declined to comment on whether the Germany court’s latest ruling would affect its operations.
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