Dec. 21, 2016
Düsseldorf District Court Finds Infringement of Nichia's YAG related Patents by Everlight's Subsidiary WOFI Leuchten
On December 15, 2016, in the two patent infringement lawsuits in Germany at the Düsseldorf District Court which Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) filed against Germany based manufacturer of residential lighting products, WOFI Leuchten Wortmann & Filz GmbH (“WOFI”) (docket numbers 4b O 82/15 and 4b O 103/15), the court found with two parallel judgments that WOFI infringes the two YAG related patents of Nichia EP 2 197 053 (DE 697 40 792) and EP 2 276 080 (DE 697 40 795) concerning the accused white LED products. WOFI is a German subsidiary of Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. (“Everlight“).
The court rendered the two judgments in favor of Nichia’s claims for permanent injunction, also rendering an accounting and damages. Furthermore, the court confirmed Nichia’s claim for recall of the accused products from the commercial customers and destruction of the accused products being owned or in possession by WOFI. The judgments are not final and can be appealed.
The Düsseldorf District Court found in its first judgment (docket number 4b O 82/15) that the two accused white LED products of WOFI infringe claim 1 of the YAG related patent EP 2 197 053 (DE 697 40 792); these are the products Orbit / Serie 946 – Art. No. 4946.04.01.0000 and Mercur / Serie 313 – Art. No. 4313.01.01.0000. According to the second judgment of the court (docket number 4b O 103/15), the ten accused white LED products of WOFI infringe claim 1 of the YAG related patent EP 2 276 080 (DE 697 40 795); these are the products Orbit / Serie 946 – Art. No. 4946.04.01.0000, Mercur / Serie 313 – Art. No. 4313.01.01.0000, Laurids / Serie 889 – Art. No. 4889.01.64.0000, Avignon / Serie 275 – Art. No. 4275.01.64.0000, Vannes / Serie 625 – Art. No. 8625.01.01.0000, Reims / Serie 272 – Art. No. 9272.09.01.0000, Luz / Serie 682 – Art. No. 8682.01.01.0000, Louvre / Serie 825 – Art. No. 8825.01.54.0000, Style / Serie 922 – Art. No. 6922.03.01.0000 and Antibes / Serie 792 – Art. No. 7792.06.01.0000. Both YAG related patents combine, among others, YAG-based phosphor with GaN-based blue LED.
Nichia believes that these both judgments of the Düsseldorf District Court are of utmost importance for the white LED market.
Nichia seeks to protect its patents and other intellectual property rights and takes actions against alleged infringers in any country where appropriate and necessary.
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