Seoul Semiconductor sues Conrad Electronic

South Korean LED maker Seoul Semiconductor Co Ltd has filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Düsseldorf, Germany, against European electronic products retailer Conrad Electronic S.E., alleging that LEDs in backlit mobile phones sold by Conrad are infringing its patent for LED light extraction technology. The patent covers fundamental LED chip fabrication technology to extract light efficiently, significantly enhancing brightness. Conrad is currently selling hundreds of different models of Korean, US and China mobile phones.

Seoul says it has already warned suppliers of LED backlight units (BLUs) for global mobile phones to cease using products suspected of infringement. The firm investigates mobile phones incorporating such products and will consider whatever legal enforcement is necessary if such infringement continues unabated.

Seoul has established significant LED backlight patents applicable to TVs and mobile phones for enhancing LED brightness, color qualities and power consumption reduction. In recent litigations, Seoul has asserted 68 of its patents, including five patent litigations involving LED TVs utilizing backlight technology, including against Philips TV products.

“Sensor Electronic Technology Inc, a subsidiary of Seoul, has also patented fundamental technology for controlling multiple colors to enhance the color quality of mobile phone flash lights,” says Sam Ryu, Seoul’s VP of IT business. “Most premium mobile phones are using this technology without authorization,” he believes. “This is a problem that Seoul and its related companies will seek to resolve because, if LED companies do business fairly, it is virtually impossible to produce LEDs that are applied to mobile phones without utilizing these patents.”

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Tags: Seoul Semiconductor LEDs

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