Seoul Semiconductor obtains judgment of $4M in damages and further patent invalidation actions against Enplas

Seoul Semiconductor (“Seoul”) continuously invalidated Japanese lens maker Enplas’s LED lens patents again in U.S. and Europe, and obtained the final infringement judgment from a U.S. Federal court holding that Enplas willfully infringed Seoul’s backlight system and lens patents, which has consolidated Seoul’s victory in global backlight lens patent litigations.

On August 9, the U.S. Federal Circuit affirmed the invalidation decision of the U.S. Patent Trial Appeal Board (“PTAB”) regarding Enplas’s lens patent. On July 20, European Patent Office also invalidated all the claims of Enplas’s lens patent, adding to a string of legal victories against Enplas in the U.S., Korea, Europe, and Taiwan. So far, the following Enplas patents have been invalidated or even rejected to register because of Seoul’s aggressive worldwide invalidation claims.

Furthermore, Seoul finally obtained the infringement judgment from the U.S. court holding that Enplas willfully infringed Seoul’s patented technology and Seoul’s patents are fully valid. 6 month ago, a U.S. jury found that Enplas willfully and actively induced infringement of Seoul’s backlight unit system and lens patents, but Enplas subsequently sought to reverse the jury verdict. On August 16, however, the U.S. Federal court issued the final judgment rejecting Enplas’s petition and fully confirmed the jury’s verdict of willful infringement awarding Seoul $4.07 damages. As a result, Seoul has won all the patent infringement/ invalidation lawsuits against Enplas in U.S.

Based on such judgments, Seoul is currently preparing further enforcement actions to seek further damages and royalty in Europe and other countries against infringers including companies that have used Enplas’s lense. In July 2014, Seoul already pursued enforcement against North America TV makers Craig Electronics and Curtis International, both of which has used Enplas’s lenses, and obtained past damages and royalty last year.

“We have successfully invalidated Enplas’s lens patents in U.S., Europe, Korea, and Taiwan and also obtained willful infringement judgment against Enplas from the U.S. court. Such victories demonstrate that Seoul is the leading pioneer of backlight LED lens technology,” said Seung Ryeol Ryu, Seoul’s IT Application R&D Officer. “It’s our strong policy that we will fight through in any patent disputes. We will continuously pursue enforcement actions against third party infringers to protect our company’s long-standing investment in intellectual property.”

Contact:

Yang, Chang-keun - Seoul Semiconductor
+82-70-4391-8012