Seoul Semiconductor’s Position to Nichia's Lawsuit Against Acriche Products

Seoul Semiconductor announced their position to Nichia Corporation(hereinafter “Nichia”)’s assertion that Seoul Semiconductor’s Acriche infringed on their patent[EP(DE) 622858]. A Seoul Semiconductor’s official said that Nichia’s patent has already been examined by experts and determined that Acriche technology is different from Nichia’s patent. Therefore, Seoul Semiconductor is confident that Acriche does not infringe Nichia’s patent.

Acriche is a product that has received high recognition in the LED industry. Namely, Acriche was named as "Product of the Year 2006" in March, 2007 by Elektronik, one of the most prestigious electronics magazines in Europe and selected as one of the “100 Hot items” by EDN, specialized in electronic components in December, 2007.

Nichia has filed several lawsuits against Seoul Semiconductor in US, Korea, UK, and Germany. Seoul believes that these lawsuits are without merit and points to statements made by Judge Chesney of the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California in the Design patent infringement litigation between Seoul Semiconductor and Nichia. As Judge Chesney noted in her recent order that “Plaintiff[Nichia] fails to explain why its use of the United States federal court system for a purpose having nothing of real substance to do with the United States is justified”. Judge Chesney further stated that “to the extent plaintiff [Nichia], in seeking a jury verdict…, may have been attempting to obtain some unstated ancillary advantage over defendants in Asia”.

As Seoul Semiconductor takes intellectual property rights very seriously, Seoul Semiconductor has also filed multiple lawsuits against Nichia for patent infringement and expects the outcome of these lawsuits to affect wide range products and businesses.

A Seoul Semiconductor’s official said, "we respect other company’s intellectual property rights and others to do the same. However, if a baseless lawsuit is brought against us, we intend to strongly defend our rights.” He then added, “we further intend to make sure that our customers and business partners are not negatively affected by such lawsuits.”