+44 (0)24 7671 8970
More publications     •     Advertise with us     •     Contact us
 
News Article

Nichia warns Harvatek, drops patent claim

Nichia has contacted Harvatek to advise of alleged infringement of a design patent. Meanwhile, the Japanese LED maker is planning to give up its rights to a contentious wafer-manufacturing patent.

Nichia Corporation has sent a warning letter to rival Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek Corporation to advise Harvatek of its infringement of Nichia s design patent (Taiwanese Patent Certificate No. 089,036).

The Japanese company says that it hired a Taiwanese expert to assess whether a SMD LED distributed by Harvatek (HT-V135BP) infringes its abovementioned design patent.

The summary of the assessment report confirms the alleged infringement, says Nichia.

The asserted design patent is one of Nichia s patents concerning the SMD Type LED, mainly used for backlighting LCDs in cellular phones. Nichia holds design patents for this SMD-type LED in several countries including Taiwan.

Meanwhile, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper, Nichia has decided to abandon its claim to the notorious "404" patent, which was at the heart of its legal battle with Shuji Nakamura.

The patent describes technology which was developed by Nakamura when he was a Nichia employee, and which Nichia used to grow high-quality GaN epilayers, essential for manufacturing blue LEDs.

However, Nichia has developed a production system that does not use the technology and is satisfied that it no longer needs the patent to make blue LEDs.

Nakamura, who now teaches engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, filed a lawsuit against his former employer, demanding proper compensation for his contribution to the development of the blue LED.

Nichia and Nakamura settled out of court, following a recommendation in January 2005 by the Tokyo High Court (see Nichia settles patent dispute with former researcher).

Nichia agreed to pay roughly 600 million yen in compensation for Nakamura s work. Assessing the value of the 404 patent was the biggest point of contention in the lawsuit.

Aside from the 404, Nichia holds around 400 LED-related patents.

Author
Tim Whitaker is editor of LEDs Magazine.

×
Search the news archive

To close this popup you can press escape or click the close icon.
×
Logo
×
Register - Step 1

You may choose to subscribe to the Compound Semiconductor Magazine, the Compound Semiconductor Newsletter, or both. You may also request additional information if required, before submitting your application.


Please subscribe me to:

 

You chose the industry type of "Other"

Please enter the industry that you work in:
Please enter the industry that you work in: