Litepanels sues Sony for patent infringement on LED technology

Aug. 4, 2008
Litepanels has filed a lawsuit against Sony related to consumer and professional video equipment and products that infringe two of Litepanels’ patents covering LED technology.
At the end of July 2008, Litepanels LLC and its subsidiary Litepanels Inc. filed an LED-related patent infringement lawsuit against Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Corp. of America Inc., and Sony Corp.

Litepanels makes and sells LED lights for professional use in film and broadcast production.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges the electronics giant’s camera-mounted lights infringe two of Litepanels’ patents that cover LED technology.

The suit specifically claims Sony’s HVL-LBP camera-mounted video light infringes the patents in question, according to IP Law360 Newswire.

The first patent is US Patent Number 6,948,823, titled “Wide area lighting apparatus and effects system,” which was issued to Litepanels LLC in September 2005 and exclusively licensed to Litepanels Inc.

The second patent asserted is US Patent Number 7,163,302, titled “Camera-mounted semiconductor lighting apparatus,” which was issued to Litepanels in January 2007.

The complaint said that the plaintiffs "knowingly and willfully infringed and continue to infringe on the ‘823 and ‘302 patents by making, using, selling, importing or offering to sell within the United States, or actively inducing others to make, use, sell … goods and services that practice the patents-in-suit."

The suit seeks a permanent injunction against Sony barring the company from infringing the two patents, enhanced damages for willful infringement and the award of attorneys’ fees and costs.

The case is Litepanels LLC et al. v. Sony Electronics Inc. et al., case number 2:08-cv-00291, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.