South Korean UV LED and blue LED chip maker Seoul Viosys Co Ltd has filed a lawsuit with the Federal District Court of Southern New York accusing P3 International (a US-based manufacturer of home electronics products that sells its products through large retail shops such as WalMart) of infringing its patented MosClean UV LED mosquito trap device technology.
At the end of June, Seoul Viosys won a patent lawsuit filed against UV LED curing system maker Salon Supply LLC and made the firm suspend sales of the infringing product in addition to receiving compensation and a royalty for use of the patent.
The patented technology at issue in the latest lawsuit against P3 includes technologies for manufacturing the UV LED mosquito trap, such as the manufacturing and packaging of UV LED chips optimized to lure Zika virus mosquitoes, and the manufacturing of the insect trap engine.
The Zika virus, which is spread through mosquitoes, is found to be the main cause of microcephaly in new born babies. However, more than 80% of infected patients do not know that they are infected and it can be transmitted through sexual relations.
Seoul Viosys began to develop the UV LED mosquito trap under the guidance of professor Lee Dongkyu, an authority in Korea on mosquitoes, by focusing on the premise that mosquitoes are lured to UV rays. After much R&D, Seoul Viosys' violeds technology was finally commercialized as MosClean, which is the best at luring mosquitoes using violeds technology.
According to Seoul Viosys, performance tests conducted in the USA, Vietnam, Indonesia and Korea show that Mosclean is four times more effective in catching mosquitoes than the standard mosquito trap. In addition, Dr Philip Koehler of the University of Florida, an authority on entomology in the USA, proved that it can lure 13 times more Zika virus mosquitoes and seven times more malaria mosquitoes than the standard mosquito traps of the US CDC.
Since it is known that this technology has the ability to capture up to 13 times more Adedes aegypti (Zika) and nine times more Anopheles sierroides (or the stained wing mosquito) than standard traps, Seoul Viosys says that, increasingly, companies are stealing its patented technologies. Hence, to protect and expand violeds technology, Seoul Viosys plans to continue filing lawsuits against infringing companies.
Seoul Viosys was established in 2002 as Seoul Optodevice (a subsidiary of South Korean LED maker Seoul Semiconductor Co Ltd) based on a technical cooperation with Japan's Nitride Semiconductor Co Ltd (the first firm to develop long-wavelength UV LEDs, emitting at 360-400nm, in 2001). It is said to be the first firm specializing in UV LEDs (spanning epitaxy, chip, package and module manufacturing) and the first to develop short-wavelength UV LEDs. Seoul Optodevice was renamed Seoul Viosys in 2013 to denote its expansion from a visible LED and UV LED chip maker to a UV LED system provider.
In 2005 the firm made an equity investment in Sensor Electronic Technology Inc (SETi) of Columbia, SC, USA, and subsequently produced its first 254-340nm UV-C and UV-B (deep UV) LEDs. Seoul Viosys has since maintained close technical cooperation with SETi for over 10 years to commercialize UV LED chips with wavelengths below 350nm.
"We have put a lot of energy into R&D for the development of UV LED technologies for the past 15 years," comments Seoul Viosys' president Kang TaeWoong. "For the mass production of UV LED devices, we received approval from the US Department of Defense and Foreigner Investment Committee, and increased production facilities in SETi, which is our subsidiary in the USA, to expand product production," he adds. "Just as Nichia is the representative company of white and blue LED production, we will be the company representing UV LED," he believes. "We will put more effort into protecting violed patented technologies and applied products, and will expand the products at a reasonable price."
