University of California sued retail giant patent infringement: hope to reach a patent licensing agreement

7Month31According to Reuters, the University of California recently filed a court in Los Angeles with Amazon, Wal-Mart,Target, IKEA andBed Bath& BeyondFive large retailers filed suit, alleging5The company's foreign suppliers produce.“filament”LEDThe filament bulb, which infringes the patent owned by the school, constitutes a“existential threat”.In the lawsuit, the University of California does not seek specific damages and royalties, but instead wants these large retailers to enter into licensing agreements.

The University of California is alsoITC(US International Trade Commission) initiated a complaint demandingITCThe investigation into the sales practices of these large retailers said they did not ask their suppliers to respect the patents involved. Based on past experience,ITCThe execution force is relatively strong, and once the patent infringement is confirmed, imports can be restricted immediately.ITCThe investigation once took the products of mobile phone companies such as Apple and Samsung off the shelves and had a strong authority.

In this case, ordinaryLEDThe lamp will not be affected, and the accused infringing product is a hot-selling product-"Filament”LED, commonly known as antiqueLEDOr Edison type (Vintage or Edison LED Bulbs).AntiqueLEDJust like an incandescent lamp, it has a filament that emits light evenly, so the bulb can be made transparent. And ordinaryLEDBecause the light emitting angle is relatively small, the bulb often needs a coating to increase diffusion and look translucent.

From2012Year to market, antiqueLEDvery popular, documents provided by the University of California2019U.S. sales can reach10Billions of dollars. As can be seen from Amazon's official website, antiqueLEDThe sales volume is very large, and there are many product categories, at least hundreds of antique bulbs.

So much antiqueLEDThe product and manufacturer, the University of California, believes that both use its patented technology, but does not pay the patent fee. The University of California was allegedly5The defendants negotiated the payment of royalties but did not reach an agreement, thus filing a patent lawsuit.

The patent involved is made2014Professor Nakamura, a Nobel laureate in physics, led the development, and the University of California said the patent was“Reinventing the light bulb”.The patented technology is a well-known technology at the University of California. Professor Nakamura also invented a commercial high-brightness blue light-emitting diode, known as the "father of blue light". Professor Shuji Nakamura1954Born in Japan, he was a technician of Japan's Japan Asia Chemical Industry Company.1990In 2010, he developed blue high-brightness light-emitting diodes. At that time, red and green light-emitting diodes were developed in the world, but because blue light-emitting diodes were not developed, various colors in the field of electronic video screens could not be fully displayed. Therefore,Blue LEDs were considered the most difficult and popular R & D project in the world at the time.. Professor Shuji Nakamura has solved this technical problem, making the color of the electronic product screen richer, extending the service life of electronic devices, and reducing power consumption.90％。2000In, Professor Nakamura went to work at the University of California, Santa Barbara.2014In, Professor Nakamura borrowed“Invention of high brightness blue light emitting diode”Jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with two other professors,

This case is the first patent infringement case filed by a university in the United States against the entire industry. The purpose is to stop this large-scale patent infringement business behavior. The attorney representing the University of California stated that "the purpose of the lawsuit is to ensure that the intellectual property rights of the University of California are respected, so that the proceeds can be reinvested in education and scientific research, thereby creating more world-changing technology products". According to the Los Angeles Times, these retailers are actually on“filament”LEDThe existence of infringement of light bulb products is a prerequisite in this case, and the University of California seeks to stop this.5Large retailers import and sell these alleged infringing products. The attorney said the defendants had been approached by the University of California to seek a licensing agreement, which was rejected. As for the reason why retailers are sued instead of producers directly, it is mainly because overseas manufacturers are difficult to track, while large retailers are close at hand.

from Amazon, Wal-Mart,Target, IKEA andBed Bath& BeyondFrom the point of view of the manufacturers of the accused infringing products on display, most ofLEDThe light bulb is made in China, so the relevant domestic manufacturers should pay close attention to the latest development of the case and abide by the US law and related judgments to avoid losses.