Wednesday, July 31, 2019

UC Santa Barbara Sues Walmart, Target, Amazon Over Filament LED Patent

In a major, patent lawsuit, the University of California, Santa Barbara has sued the five biggest retailers of filament "Edison-style" LED lighting, saying all of those bulbs violate patents held by UC Santa Barbara. According to UCSB, the Regents of the University of California filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission and lawsuits against five major retailers for the unauthorized distribution of what it says is its patented filament LED lighting technology. The retailers covered by the lawsuit include Walmart, Target, Ikea, Amazon.com and Bed Bath & Beyond. UC Santa Barbara said it is seeking to establish licenses from each of those retailers, and a "reasonable royalty" from the defendants. The patents are held by prolific LED technology researchers and professors Shuji Nakamura (inventor of the blue LED and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014); Steven DenBaars, and James Speck. UC Santa Barbara says it is being represented by Nixon Peabody LLP. Filament LED lighting uses strings of LEDs to simulate the look of traditional lightbulbs.

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