On 10 June, Taiwan-based Everlight Electronics Co Ltd filed a lawsuit in the US District Court (Northern District of California- San Francisco Division) alleging that Bridgelux Inc of Fremont, CA, USA (a vertically integrated manufacturer of solid-state light sources for lighting applications) is infringing US Patent 6,335,548 and 7,253,448 (which concern essential and fundamental structures in LEDs) by manufacturing and selling LED products including, for example, the 2835 series packaged surface-mount device (SMD) LEDs. The patented technology is broadly used in high-, mid- or low-power LED products.
In addition to the US market, Everlight’s patent protection on such structures extends to Europe, Korea, and Japan. However, the scope of the lawsuit is limited only to such products in the USA and does not cover any jurisdictions outside the USA.
The lawsuit asked the court to enjoin Bridgelux from selling, manufacturing, importing or exporting any infringing products, and to award Everlight damages sufficient to compensate for Bridgelux’s infringement.
Bridgelux believes that Everlight’s infringement claims are entirely without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against these claims. “As history demonstrates, Bridgelux respects the intellectual property rights of others and will not be intimidated by the misuse of litigation from those seeking an unfair advantage or seeking to limit the advantage Bridgelux has earned from our technology investments,” says Bridgelux’s CEO Tim Lester.
Bridgelux says that it believes the lawsuit is the result of the success of its 2835 SMD products in the market and Everlight’s inability to compete with a competitive offering. Because its patent portfolio (of more than 300 worldwide patents extending from chips to luminaires) covers many core LED technologies, Bridgelux intends to employ its own patent portfolio to protect its rights.
