Tridonic Jennersdorf GmbH, a subsidiary of Tridonic GmbH & Co KG of Dornbirn and part of the Zumtobel Group, has filed a lawsuit against the German-based company S-KON eKontor24 GmbH in Munich District Court. The legal action relates to the sale of smartphones manufactured by HTC of Taiwan.
Together with Litec GbR and Leuchtstoffwerk Breitungen GmbH in Germany, Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. in Japan, Tridonic Jennersdorf GmbH comprises the B.O.S.E. Consortium which owns fundamental patents for a technology of white LEDs that employ blue LEDs and yellow silicate phosphors to emit white light.
In the patent lawsuit, Tridonic alleges that certain HTC smartphones infringe several patents that the B.O.S.E. Consortium holds. Among these allegedly infringed B.O.S.E. Consortium patents is European Patent EP 1352431 B1. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that S-KON eKontor24 sells these patent-infringing HTC smartphones.
According to Tridonic, silicate-phosphor-based white LED technology enables the fabrication of white LEDs with both high accuracy and high brightness. The main applications of such LEDs include the backlights of liquid crystal displays used in laptops, smartphones, GPS systems and additional display products.
Tridonic contends that using LEDs in such displays makes them relevant to a significant portion of the LED market. The B.O.S.E. consortium makes this white LED technology available to the LED industry through licensing arrangements that allow its use. Tridonic notes that the B.O.S.E. Consortium, of which it is a member has concluded licensing agreements with more than 40 LED producers around the world.
