LEDvance Reaches Agreement on UC Santa Barbara’s Patented LED Technology

SANTA BARBARA – University of California (UC) Santa Barbara and LEDVANCE, one of the world's leading general lighting providers for professional users and end consumers, are pleased to announce they have entered into a licensing agreement in UC Santa Barbara’s patent enforcement campaign related to filament LED technology. The agreement authorizes LEDVANCE to manufacture and distribute the patented technology to its wide array of customers, which include lighting professionals, retailers and consumers.

On July 30, 2019, UC Santa Barbara launched the first-of-its-kind patent enforcement campaign against five major retailers to promote the respect of its patent rights covering foundational filament LED technology. Developed by a Nobel laureate-led research group at UC Santa Barbara, the technology has revolutionized the modern light bulb, creating an option for consumers that saves both energy and money.

“UC Santa Barbara has always valued its partnerships with industry leaders like LEDVANCE and appreciates their recognition of the important role universities play in researching and developing cutting edge technology,” said Joseph Incandela, Vice Chancellor for Research at UC Santa Barbara. “This agreement allows UC Santa Barbara to reinvest in research and continue to generate world-changing innovations.”

The patent enforcement campaign comprises a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation into the retailers’ unauthorized importation and sales of UC Santa Barbara’s patented LED technology and lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the retailers, seeking reasonable royalties. Through the campaign, UC Santa Barbara hopes to encourage sellers of the patented filament LED technology to reach licensing agreements with the university, designating them as authorized retailers of the technology and, in turn, compensating UC Santa Barbara for its research and development of the technology.

“LEDVANCE seeks innovations to shape the lighting market and the agreement with UC Santa Barbara is a great agreement to reinforce our innovation strategy. We are pleased to have come to this agreement with UC Santa Barbara which will allow us to continue providing our clients with SYLVANIA lighting options that are cost- and energy-efficient,” said Matt McCarron, VP of Industrial / Commercial Sales for LEDVANCE LLC. “LEDVANCE and UC Santa Barbara played important roles in the development of LED filament technology that had a significant impact on the lighting industry, and we are happy to have come to an agreement that recognizes that work.”

More information on LEDVANCE’s exciting and innovative products can be found at https://www.sylvania.com/.

More information on UC Santa Barbara’s patent enforcement campaign, including how to become an authorized seller, can be found at https://filamentpatent.ucsb.edu/.

UC Santa Barbara is represented by the law firm Nixon Peabody.

ABOUT UC SANTA BARBARA

Recognized as one of the county's top 10 public research universities, UC Santa Barbara has a distinguished faculty that includes six Nobel Laureates as well as winners of the Breakthrough Prize, the Millennium Technology Prize, the Fields Medal and the Pulitzer. With a mission of teaching, research and public service, UC Santa Barbara is helping to shape the next generation of national and international leaders in science, social science, the humanities and fine arts.

ABOUT LEDVANCE

With offices in more than 50 countries and business activities in more than 140 countries, LEDVANCE is one of the world's leading general lighting providers for professional users and end consumers. Having emerged from the general lighting business of OSRAM GmbH, LEDVANCE offers a wide-ranging assortment of LED luminaires for a broad spectrum of application areas, intelligent lighting products for Smart Homes and Buildings, one of the largest LED lamps portfolios in the industry, and traditional light sources. In fiscal year 2017, LEDVANCE achieved a turnover of around 1.9 billion Euro. Based on an agreement with OSRAM, LEDVANCE will continue to use the trusted OSRAM brand for many of its products (SYLVANIA for the USA and Canada). Further information can be found at www.ledvance.com.