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Blue LED inventor looses on ruling to former employer

In a decision that could have broad ramifications, a Tokyo court yesterday ruled a company that employed the inventor of the lucrative blue light-emitting diode, or LED, is the rightful owner of its patent.

Shuji Nakamura, now a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, sued Nichia Corp for ?2 billion (US$16 million), saying he was not sufficiently compensated for the profit his invention brought the company.

His claim was given a setback after the Tokyo District Court ruled that Nichia is the rightful owner of the patent. The broader ruling on whether he can claim any portion of the profits from the invention will be made on Nov. 19, court spokesman Akira Idemoto said.

Japanese law upholds the right of the individual inventor, in principle. In practice, Japan has been relatively weak on the protection of such individual rights when compared to the US.

Nichia had no immediate comment on the ruling. Nakamura was scheduled to give a news conference later in the day.

The patent for the blue light-emitting diode, or LED, which consumes less energy than regular light bulbs, helps make more than ?50 billion (US$407 million) a year in revenue for Nichia Corp, the small company in southwestern Japan where Nakamura worked for 20 years. Besides his paycheck of ?10 million (US$81,000) a year, Nakamura said he got only ?20,000 (US$160) for each of the dozens of patents on inventions he developed at Nichia.

He quit Nichia in 1999 and took the job with the Materials Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara the following year.

His suit has been closely followed because it underscores the broader issue of where the line on intellectual property rights should be drawn when an inventor clashes with his or her employer.

Many also see Nakamura as something of a champion of the common worker.

Nakamura, 47, claims that while at Nichia, he toiled long hours alone in his lab, enduring ridicule, accidental explosions and bureaucratic red tape.
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