Osram has resolved its two-year patent dispute with Citizen Electronics over Osram’s developments in white LED products. The two companies have now signed an extensive licence agreement, with the prospect of cooperation in the future.
The dispute began in 2005, when Osram filed a lawsuit alleging that Citizen had infringed Osram’s intellectual property rights to white LEDs in Germany. In 2006, Osram claimed Citizen was again using its patented technology, this time in the USA.
The rights concern Osram’s method of converting blue light to yellow light using a yellow converter. The new agreement allows Citizen the right, against payment, to use Osram intellectual property in white LEDs of all sizes, in all output categories, and for all areas of application.
Dr Rüdiger Müller, CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors, said: ‘We are pleased that this agreement signals the end of an dispute and that another renowned LED manufacturer in Citizen Electronics has recognised the importance of our intellectual property.’
The two companies are now in talks over possible collaboration.
