{"id":948,"date":"2024-10-30T04:54:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T04:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/?p=948"},"modified":"2024-10-30T04:59:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T04:59:09","slug":"patent-enforcement-against-leds-used-in-automotive-lighting-launched-in-upc-and-munich-court-nichia-v-endrich-dominant-opto-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipfray.com\/staging1\/patent-enforcement-against-leds-used-in-automotive-lighting-launched-in-upc-and-munich-court-nichia-v-endrich-dominant-opto-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Patent enforcement against LEDs used in automotive lighting launched in UPC and Munich court: Nichia v. Endrich (Dominant Opto partner)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Context:<\/strong> LED patent holders have been interested in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) early on, leading to an injunction that the UPC’s Dusseldorf Local Division (LD) granted a few weeks ago (October 10, 2024 ip fray<\/strong> article<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s new:<\/strong> Japan’s Nichia Corporation, which has a significant track record in LED patent enforcement (such as a court win over ASUS a few years ago), has filed three patent infringement lawsuits against Endrich Bauelemente Vertriebs GmbH, a Germany-based distributor of LEDs used particularly in automotive headlights and backlights, and which are made by Malaysia’s Dominant Opto Technologies (“DOT”). The UPC’s case registry shows one case, and two more cases have been filed with the Munich I Regional Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Direct impact:<\/strong> Presumably, Endrich’s supplier DOT has a hold-harmless or (at least) indemnification provision to honor and will intervene. Nichia is seeking injunctions as well as damages. Given the competitive situation between the parties, it is not a given that a license agreement can put the dispute to rest quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wider ramifications:<\/strong> The UPC continues to attract high-stakes, high-profile cases. Just a few days ago, German supercomputer firm ParTec filed a case with the UPC’s Munich LD, seeking an 18-country injunction against Nvidia’s DGX chips used in AI cloud clusters (October 28, 2024 ip fray<\/strong> article<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the UPC case that has surfaced in the case registry, Nichia is asserting EP2323178 <\/a>(“Light-emitting device, method for manufacturing same, molded body and sealing member”). EP’178 is about LED package epoxy resins that allegedly excel through superior heat and light resistance. Nichia is asserting EP’178 against DOT’s Spice Plus 2120 Multi Color SKRTB-FHG (RGB 3in1), Spice Plus 3014 SEW-WZSG and Spice Plus 3030 Multi Color S6RTB-THG (RGB 3in1) products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nichia asks the UPC to ban those products in Europe’s top three automaking countries \u2013 Germany, Italy and France \u2013 as well as the Netherlands, which is an important hub for many electronics components, particularly also LEDs. The patent family to which EP’178 belongs has members in those four European countries as well as in mainland China and Taiwan, India and South Korea, making further geographic escalation a possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel consists of Presiding Judge Ronny Thomas<\/a>, Judge Dr. B\u00e9r\u00e9nice Thom<\/a> and Judge Mojca Mlakar<\/a> (Ljubljana, Slovenia). A technically qualified judge is likely to be assigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Nichia has filed infringement lawsuits against DOT over two other patents with the Munich I Regional Court, seeking injunctive and monetary remedies with respect to the German market:<\/p>\n\n\n\n