April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Seoul Semiconductor, a leading light-emitting diodes manufacturer here, has won a US$1 million patent lawsuit against Taiwan’s Everlight Electronics, which used a flawed patent against industry rivals.

The UK Patents Court declared on Feb. 14 that Everlight’s LED heat protection patent was invalid, ordering the defending Taiwanese company to pay for all legal expenses, officials said on Feb. 20.

The court’s decision was based on Everlight’s written statement in which it admitted that the patent in question was invalid.

After purchasing the LED package heat prevention patent from a US company last year, Everlight filed a patent infringement lawsuit against rival Bridgelux at a California court.

The corresponding patent, however, involved a technology that was already widely in use in the market, according to Seoul Semiconductor.

“We make it a rule to aggressively nullify flawed patents and to pre-emptively prevent acts of patent abuses. This latest case is a classic example of such beliefs,” said an official.

Seoul Semiconductor, the world‘s fourth-largest LED company as of last year, currently holds over 13,000 technology patents.

The South Korean company is marked for its aggressive defense actions in the technology patent sector. In 2016, its patent legal team officials visited 29 lighting and television manufacturers around the world to explain patent infringement and encourage compliance.

The company is also proceeding with a separate lawsuit at the Court of Milan against US distributer Mouser Electronics and its Italian subsidiary for purportedly selling Everlight’s patent-infringing products.

By Bae Hyun-jung/The Korea(tellme@heraldcorp.com)