Edhat Staff
Photo: UCSB
By edhat staff
UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) is suing major retailers to protect its LED patent lights created by a Nobel-laureate-led research group.
Amazon, IKEA, Walmart, Target, and Bed Bath & Beyond are named as retailers who should be paying royalties from the sales of their vintage-style LED lightbulbs.
A complaint was filed on Tuesday with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington and in civil suits in federal court in Los Angeles. UCSB retained counsel with Nixon Peabody, LLP based out of Los Angeles.
UC Santa Barbara has amassed a portfolio of patents that cover filament LED light bulbs. Many products on the market today resemble Thomas Edison’s original creation because they resemble his iconic light bulbs with glowing filaments visible inside glass bulbs. They are marketed as “vintage” or “Edison” LED light bulbs and are popular in modern decor and restaurants.
UCSB asserts many of these products infringe on their patents. Their filament LED light bulbs replaces traditional incandescent light bulbs while using about 90% less energy and last many years longer.
Since these products are almost entirely manufactured overseas, this lawsuit is focused on infringement that occurs when filament LED lighting products arrive on United States shores and enter the retail marketplace. UCSB is seeking to establish licenses with retailers that import and sell these products.
The lawsuit is requesting the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to launch an investigation into the unauthorized importation and sales by Amazon.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ikea, Target, and Walmart of filament LED technology covered by UCSB’s patents and to issue limited exclusion and cease and desist orders to prevent retailers from importing and trafficking in these products without UCSB’s permission. Lawsuits seeking the payment of reasonable royalties were filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the same retailers.
“The goal of this campaign is to ensure that UC’s patent rights are respected so it can reinvest in education and research to create more world-changing technologies,” said Seth Levy, a Los Angeles-based partner at Nixon Peabody. “It also is a message to entities throughout the private sector that university intellectual property rights cannot be infringed with impunity.”
Since filament LED light bulbs became available in 2014, UCSB alleges the market has grown substantially. In 2019 alone, projected sales are more than $1 billion, according to UCSB.
I hope that UCSB gets a good payout from these big name stores for infringing on their patents! Hopefully a bunch of money will be put into the university from it, and not just lining certain folks’ pockets. 🙂
Yeah, cause the universities are not at all similar to greedy corporations (tongue firmly in cheek).
I predict that UCSB gets nothing from the retailers. They need to go after the company that is producing them. The retailers will be able to sue the manufacturer if they are not aware of patent infringement, which I am sure they will claim to avoid paying out any funds.