Lumileds reopens patent fight with Taiwanese duo
California-based LED manufacturer Lumileds Lighting is suing the Taiwanese companies Epistar and United Epitaxy Company (UEC), alleging that the two are infringing key patents relating to AlGaInP devices.
"Lumileds seeks an exclusion order barring entry into the US of the accused LEDs, as well as products containing those LEDs," declared the company in a statement.
As well as filing a complaint to the US International Trade Commission (UTC), Lumileds is suing Epistar and UEC at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking an injunction against future infringement, damages, and enhanced damages for willful infringement .
The complaint is the latest twist in a litigation battle that the three companies have waged for much of the past decade (see related stories).
Previous episodes in the series of lawsuits have centered on the details disclosed in US patent 5,008,718, entitled "LED with an electrically conductive window", which Lumileds was granted in 1991.
The new litigation instigated by Lumileds cites the "718" patent, as well as two later patents (5,376,580 and 5,502,316) concerning a wafer-bonding technique awarded to Fred Kish and colleagues at Hewlett-Packard prior to the spin-off of Agilent Technologies.
Specifically, Lumileds is now accusing Epistar over omnidirectional mirror adhesion LEDs, and UEC over metal bond and glue bond approaches to manufacturing.
Back in 1999, the Californian company had stated out of court that UEC had infringed the "718" patent, to which UEC responded with a lawsuit in September 1999 claiming that the patent was invalid on grounds of "obviousness".
Along with Aglient, Lumileds filed a counter-claim the following year, before the case was settled in October 2001. Then in August 2003, Lumileds filed against Epistar, citing infringement of the same "718" patent.
But in July last year, pending litigation was settled when Lumileds granted Epistar a limited license to use technology disclosed in several patents relating to absorbing-substrate AlGaInP LEDs.
Since that most recent settlement, the circumstances of all the companies concerned has changed. Lumileds is now 97%-owned by Philips Lighting after Agilent sold its share in the joint venture, while Epistar and UEC are set to merge by the end of this year.
