The agreement will apply to worldwide sales of LED-based luminaires developed and marketed by all Acuity Brands' businesses. Acuity Brands is one of the world's leading providers of lighting fixtures and related products and services, with brands including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Gotham and Mark Architectural Lighting.

Through the agreement, Acuity Brands will be able to incorporate Philips’ patented technologies related to the development and digital control of LED systems for general lighting, architectural and theatrical applications.

This marks another significant sign-up for the Philips program, following earlier agreements signed with Zumtobel (see News) and Osram (see News).

“Acuity Brands has long been a leader in the development and sale of LED and other energy-efficient lighting fixtures," said Vernon Nagel, Chairman, President, and CEO of Acuity Brands. "We believe this agreement will enable us to continue our innovation and leadership in providing technologically advanced, sustainable LED lighting and controls solutions to our customers.”

Philips’ licensing program combines many LED luminaire-related inventions of Philips and several of its acquired companies (notably Color Kinetics) to simplify the use of LED technologies by third parties. Philips says that it has "ensured a strong presence along the LED value chain" in the past years through targeted investments and acquisitions. As well as supplying its own products, Philips says that it aims to speed up market adoption and growth by making available its "market-leading patented technologies" to third parties.

“Philips has significantly invested in the research and development of solid-state lighting, particularly in the past several years. Our wide-ranging IP portfolio reflects the resulting innovations,” said Rudy Provoost, Chief Executive Officer of Philips Lighting.

“At the same time, we’re committed to the growth of the industry and have a vested interest in accelerating adoption. We’re therefore very pleased to work with Acuity to stimulate the market and support customer choice by offering new LED lighting solutions to the market.”