Seoul Semiconductor wins LED patent challenges

Oct. 17, 2007
LED maker Seoul Semiconductor has won several patent disputes against rivals AOT and Itswell.
The Patent Court of Korea has turned down appeals brought by Taiwan-based Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Inc.(AOT) and Korea-based Itswell in their patent disputes with Seoul Semiconductor.

The appeals were an attempt to overturn earlier decisions from the Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal. The Tribunal had rejected patent invalidation actions brought by AOT and Itswell against Seoul Semiconductor's utility patent for producing white LEDs.

In 2005, Seoul Semiconductor filed and won all the preliminary injunctions for infringement of patent pertaining to its white LED against AOT and Itswell in Seoul Central District Court.

AOT and Itswell responded to these injunctions by filing invalidation actions against Seoul Semiconductor's white LED patent in the Korean Intellectual Property Tribunal, claiming that the patent lacks novelty. The Tribunal rejected both AOT and Itswell's invalidation actions at the end of last year.

AOT and Itswell subsequently appealed this Tribunal ruling by filing lawsuits with the Patent Court of Korea. These appeals have now been denied.

In addition, the Intellectual Property Office in Taiwan rejected AOT's invalidation action against Seoul Semiconductor's white LED patent in Taiwan in August 3, 2007.