SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 26, 2024--
The German District Court of Düsseldorf, on November 19 ruled in favor of Seoul Semiconductor (KOSDAQ:046890) in the patent infringement lawsuits, and also ordered that products manufactured by Philips Lighting and sold since March 2017 be recalled and destroyed. The Court also ruled that a fine of up to €250,000 would be imposed for each violation of this order. On December 17, the German Federal Patent Court also affirmed the validity of these patents, which solidifies the strength of many related patents.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241225151382/en/
These court orders relate to the core technology used to achieve CRI 70 (Color Rendering Index 70%) or higher, applicable to all home lighting, automotive lighting products, IT flash, and backlights. Since the effects of these judgments are applicable to all products infringing on the patented technology, it is expected to have a ripple effect on markets worth over $100 billion for finished goods and over $10 billion for packages in the lighting, automotive, and IT sectors.
Philips Lighting brand (currently Signify Group) is the world’s leading lighting company with 2023 annual revenue of approximately $7 billion. The Court ordered Conrad Electronic, the global distributor where these products are sold, to immediately cease the sale of certain products manufactured by affiliates of Philips Lighting brand, and also ordered the recall and destruction of infringing products distributed in the market since March 29, 2017. Additionally, the Court ruled that a fine of up to €250,000 per violation would be imposed for each non-compliance. This serves as a strong punitive measure to prevent the recurrence of such infringement activities. These court orders are applicable to all products with a CRI of 70 or higher, not just those manufactured by the affiliates of Philips Lighting brand. Particularly, by defeating the invalidation lawsuit filed by Philips Lighting, Seoul Semiconductor has strengthened the related patent technology.
For the past 30 years, Seoul Semiconductor has been pursuing its vision of "clean, healthy, and beautiful with light," striving to shift the paradigm from harmful artificial lighting to the light of nature. To achieve this, the company invests nearly $100 million annually, about 10% of its revenue, in research and development (R&D). As a result, Seoul Semiconductor holds an overwhelming number of over 18,000 optoelectronic patents in the LED industry and has collaborated with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) for years on joint research and development to improve CRI.
Chung Hoon Lee, Seoul’s founder and CEO said, “Infringement of intellectual property causes frustration among young entrepreneurs and innovative companies.” He added, “Our investment in preventing technology theft helps to create a fairer market and encourages young people and companies around the world to continue innovating, helping all of us contribute to a better world. This aligns with one of our company's three core missions: honor, trust, and contribution.”
About Seoul Semiconductor
Seoul Semiconductor is the world's third-largest global opto semiconductor (LED) company that has focused solely on LEDs for the past 30 years. Under the vision of "Make the world clean, healthy and beautiful with light" Seoul Semiconductor leads the new paradigm of light with world-first technologies in the fields of lighting, automotive, and IT (backlighting), while Seoul Viosys, a subsidiary, is at the forefront of MicroLED, UV, sensors, and Dacom.
Notable world-first technologies include the innovative no-wire LED "WICOP"; "SunLike," which replicates the full spectrum of natural sunlight; the high-voltage LED "Acrich"; the ultra-bright "nPola" LED, which is more than 10 times brighter than traditional LEDs; the RGB one-chip MicroLED "WICOP Pixel"; and the UV cleaning technology "Violeds."
Seoul Semiconductor holds an overwhelming 18,000 patents in the industry and has won over 100 patent litigations across eight countries in the past 20 years. Believing that the patent system offers hope to young people and serves as a stepping stone to a better world, the company actively engages in intellectual property protection activities. For more details, please visit our official websites ( http://www.seoulsemicon.com/en, https://www.seoulviosys.com/en ) and social media channels ( LinkedIn ).
About CRI (Color Rendering Index)
An indicator of how accurately a light source reproduces the colors of objects under natural sunlight. (For example, CRI 70: Designed so that the colors of 14 standard color samples match more than 70% of the colors seen under sunlight.)
Application Examples with CRI 70 or Higher (Photo: Seoul Semiconductor)
JERUSALEM (AP) — A new round of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday targeted the Houthi rebel-held capital and multiple ports, while the World Health Organization's director-general said the bombardment occurred nearby as he prepared to board a flight in Sanaa, with a crew member injured.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on the social media platform X.
He added that he and U.N. colleagues were safe. “We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” he said, without mentioning the source of the bombardment. U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay later said the injured person was with the U.N. Humanitarian Air Service.
Israel’s army later told The Associated Press it wasn’t aware that the WHO chief was at the location in Yemen.
The Israeli strikes followed several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel. The Israeli military in a statement said it attacked infrastructure used by the Iran-backed Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, along with power stations, asserting they were used to smuggle in Iranian weapons and for the entry of senior Iranian officials.
Israel's military added it had "capabilities to strike very far from Israel’s territory — precisely, powerfully, and repetitively.”
The strikes, carried out over 1,000 miles from Jerusalem, came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned" as his military has battled those more powerful proxies of Iran.
The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah reported multiple deaths and showed broken windows, collapsed ceilings and a bloodstained floor and vehicle. Iran's foreign ministry condemned the strikes. The U.S. military also has targeted the Houthis in recent days.
The U.N. has said the targeted ports are important entryways for humanitarian aid for Yemen, the poorest Arab nation that plunged into a civil war in 2014.
Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, while other missiles and drones have been shot down. Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeida, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The U.N. Security Council has an emergency meeting Monday in response to an Israeli request that it condemn the Houthi attacks and Iran for supplying them weapons.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike killed five Palestinian journalists outside a hospital in Gaza overnight, the territory's Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said all were militants posing as reporters.
The strike hit a car outside Al-Awda Hospital in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The journalists were working for local news outlet Al-Quds Today, a television channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Islamic Jihad is a smaller and more extreme ally of Hamas and took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. Israel's military identified four of the men as combat propagandists and said that intelligence, including a list of Islamic Jihad operatives found by soldiers in Gaza, had confirmed that all five were affiliated with the group.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian militant groups operate political, media and charitable operations in addition to their armed wings.
Associated Press footage showed the incinerated shell of a van, with press markings visible on the back doors. Sobbing young men attended the funeral. The bodies were wrapped in shrouds, with blue press vests draped over them.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 130 Palestinian reporters have been killed since the start of the war. Israel hasn't allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza except on military embeds.
Israel has banned the pan-Arab Al Jazeera network and accused six of its Gaza reporters of being militants. The Qatar-based broadcaster denies the allegations and accuses Israel of trying to silence its war coverage, which has focused heavily on civilian casualties from Israeli military operations.
Separately, Israel's military said a 35-year-old reserve soldier was killed during fighting in central Gaza. A total of 389 soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. About 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead.
Israel's air and ground offensive has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. It says more than half the fatalities have been women and children, but doesn't say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The offensive has caused widespread destruction and hunger and driven around 90% of the population of 2.3 million from their homes. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid camps along the coast, with little protection from the cold, wet winter.
Also Thursday, people mourned eight Palestinians killed by Israeli military operations in and around Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it opened fire after militants attacked soldiers, and it was aware of uninvolved civilians who were harmed in the raid.
Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the name of the local news outlet is Al-Quds Today, not the Quds News Network.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Smoke rises from the area around the International Airport following an airstrike, as seen from Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. The Israeli military reported targeting infrastructure used by the Houthis at the Sanaa International Airport, as well as ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif, and Ras Qantib, along with power stations.(AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Mourners carry the bodies of eight killed Palestinians, some are wrapped with the Islamic Jihad flag, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Mourners carry the bodies of killed Palestinians, some wrapped with the Islamic Jihad flag, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
A boy walks along of a damaged street after the latest Israeli military operation, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A mourner cries while she takes the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A Palestinian killed during an Israeli army operation is buried in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A mourner cries after taking a last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Mourners cry while they take the last look at the body of a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed, during their funeral following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Locals stand next to a damaged building after the latest Israeli military operation, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners react as they carry the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A relative mourns over the body of one of the five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians, mostly journalists, gather around the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman reacts during the funeral of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
