Taiwanese LED maker Everlight Electronics Co Ltd says that, on 22 April, the jury before the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan found that all asserted claims of the white LED patents of Japan's Nichia Corp are invalid in Germany and the USA for obviousness and/or lack of enablement.
In April 2012, Everlight filed for declaratory judgment of invalidity and non-infringement of Nichia's US patents related to white LEDs. The US patents 5998925 and 7531960 concern yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) phosphor being used with a blue LED chip to emit white light, and its phosphor concentration.
In March 2012, Everlight also filed for invalidation trial against Nichia's corresponding white LED patent in Germany, specifically patent DE69702929 (EP0936682). The German Patent Court in September 2014 also declared all the claims of the patent invalid, and that Nichia has to bear the litigation fee.
