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    LED Patent News: LG and Samsung file lawsuits against Osram (update)

    July 19, 2011
    LG is seeking to prevent the importation of Osram LED products into Korea, while the ITC has agreed to investigate Osram’s complaints against both LG and Samsung. Meanwhile, Samsung LED has filed lawsuits in the US against Osram, and Nichia has filed a lawsuit against a DIY retailer in Germany.

    LG seeks to ban imports of Osram LED products into Korea

    LG Electronics Inc has filed a complaint with the South Korean trade commission to ban imports of LED products from Osram, according to a Reuters article.

    The move comes after Osram filed patent lawsuits against both LG and Samsung LED. The latter company has already responded with its own counter-suits.

    LG said it had filed the complaint along with its LED-manufacturing unit LG Innotek, and that it plans to take similar actions in other major markets including China and the United States.

    ITC investigates Osram complaint

    Meanwhile, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to investigate two complaints filed by Osram GmbH in early June, against LG and Samsung and various affiliates of the two Korean companies.

    The complaints allege violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain LEDs and LED-containing products (such as LCD displays) that infringe patents asserted by Osram. The complainant requests that the USITC issue an exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders.

    Samsung LED files US lawsuits against Osram

    Samsung LED Co., Ltd. has filed a complaint requesting that the ITC should issue an exclusion order barring importation of products of Osram, Osram Opto Semiconductors, and Osram Sylvania Inc. into the United States.

    Samsung LED also filed a lawsuit alleging infringement of eight patents on core LED technologies. The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, seeks damages and a permanent injunction barring Osram’s infringement.

    Nichia files patent infringement lawsuit against Hornbach

    In further LED patent news, Japan-based LED maker Nichia Corporation has filed a patent-infringement lawsuit in Germany at the District Court Düsseldorf against Hornbach Baumarkt AG (“Hornbach”), which is a German DIY retailer partly owned by British retail group Kingfisher plc.

    The lawsuit seeks an injunction, damages, recall and destruction against a Christmas decoration product including white LEDs (product number 183125) sold by Hornbach, which Nichia believes infringe its patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929).