Japanese LED maker Nichia Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against its Korean rival, Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. The lawsuit claims that Seoul's Acriche series white LED product infringes the Nichia patent EP(DE)622858.
Seoul's German subsidiary, Seoul Semiconductor Europe GmbH, and its German distributor, Conrad Electronic SE, are also listed in the lawsuit, which seeks injunctive relief and compensation for damages.
This follows a similar lawsuit against Acriche filed on May 13, 2008 in the UK against Seoul Semiconductor and its UK distributor, Avnet EMG Ltd. In this action, Nichia said it believes that Acriche infringes two patents EP(UK)599224 and EP(UK)622858.
Nichia has also filed lawsuits in the U.S., Japan and Korea against Seoul Semiconductor and its Japanese and U.S. subsidiaries, which are all currently pending. Details can be found on Nichia's website.
