Tridonic files patent infringement lawsuit against sales partner of HTC smartphones

Tridonic Jennersdorf GmbH, a subsidiary of Tridonic GmbH & Co KG, Dornbirn and thus part of the Zumtobel Group lighting group, has filed a lawsuit against the company S-KON eKontor24 GmbH based in Germany. The subject of the legal action brought before Munich District Court is the sale of smartphones manufactured by HTC of Taiwan. Together with Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. in Japan, Leuchtstoffwerk Breitungen GmbH and Litec GbR in Germany, Tridonic Jennersdorf GmbH makes up the B.O.S.E. Consortium which owns basic patents for a technology that generates white light with blue LEDs and yellow silicate phosphors. In Tridonic’s view, the smartphones that form the subject of the legal action infringe several patents held by the B.O.S.E. Consortium. Silicate-based white LED technology enables the manufacture of white LEDs with high accuracy and high brightness. Primary applications of such LEDs include the backlights of liquid crystal displays used in smartphones, laptops, GPS systems and other display products, which means this technology is of relevance to a substantial share of today’s LED market. To make this white LED technology available to the LED industry, the B.O.S.E. Consortium offers licensing arrangements for its use. The B.O.S.E. Consortium has already concluded licensing agreements with more than 40 LED manufacturers worldwide.