Seoul Semiconductor Successfully Obtains Permanent Injunction against Patent Infringement in U.S. Following German Court’s Injunction Orders

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ 046890) (“Seoul”), a leading global innovator of LED products and technology, announced on September 26 that it won a patent infringement lawsuit against Service Lighting And Electrical Supplies, Inc., an operator of “1000bulbs.com” – the largest online light bulb distribution channel.

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The Texas Northern District federal court issued a permanent injunction against the sales of more than 50 lighting products, as well as any colorable variations of those products unless they have been licensed, according to the parties’ stipulation. Therefore, the Court will prohibit the sale of similar products if they prove to be mere colorable variations of accused products.

In this litigation, Seoul asserted 10 patented technologies significant for LED bulb components, such as a Multi-Wavelength Insulation Reflector widely used for “0.5W to 3W” level mid-power LED packages, Multi Junction Technology for mounting and integrating many LEDs within a small area, LED Driver technology for current conversion and control, and LED packages with enhanced durability. Particularly, Seoul’s Multi Junction Technology is essential for manufacturing 12V/18V high-voltage lighting products, and Seoul is the pioneer of this technology.

Recently, the German court also issued two permanent injunction judgments against the sale of products infringing Seoul’s patents and also ordered the distributor to recall such products in December 2018 and August 2019 respectively.

Similar to the evolution of smart phones, LED technology has progressed from first generation products to second generation products based on continuous technological advances. This litigation aims to protect second generation LED technology.

Comparison of each generation’s characteristics
Section	Luminous Efficacy	Life time	CRI	Operating Temperature
1st generation	Below 70-80 lm/W	Below 5,000-6,000 hr	Below 70	Below 70-80 ℃
2nd generation	Over 150 lm/W	Over 10,000 hr	Over 80-90	Below 150 ℃

“We hope that Seoul’s success story based on significant R&D efforts could show a good example to young entrepreneurs and small businesses struggling to have their talents recognized in the market,” says Seoul’s founder Chung Hoon Lee. “We will continue necessary actions against companies that we suspect of infringing our patents or of unlawful access to our trade secrets by luring employees,” added Lee.

About Seoul Semiconductor
Seoul Semiconductor develops and commercializes LEDs for automotive, general illumination, specialty lighting, and backlighting markets. As the second-largest LED manufacturer globally excluding the captive market, Seoul Semiconductor holds more than 14,000 patents, offers a wide range of technologies, and mass produces innovative LED products such as SunLike – delivering the world’s best light quality in a next-generation LED enabling human-centric lighting optimized for circadian rhythms; WICOP – a simpler structured package-free LED which provides market leading color uniformity and cost savings at the fixture level, providing high lumen density and design flexibility; NanoDriver Series – the world’s smallest 24W DC LED drivers; Acrich, the world's first high-voltage AC-driven LED technology developed in 2005, including all AC LED-related technologies from chip to module and circuit fabrication, and nPola, a new LED product based on GaN-substrate technology that achieves more than ten times the output of conventional LEDs. UCD constitutes a high color gamut display which delivers more than 90% NTSC. For more information, please visit www.seoulsemicon.com/en.

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Contact information

Seoul Semiconductor Inc.
Jeonghee Kim
Tel: +82-70-4391-8311
Email: jeonghee.kim@seoulsemicon.com