Solid State Lighting Net - LIGHTimes News - LED Industry Supply Chain and Applications News

December 4, 2004...Intellectual Property (IP) issues abound no matter what the creative industry, and as more and more systems integrators jump on the Solid State Lighting (SSL) bandwagon it isn't surprising to see an increase in IP issues becoming patent disputes and ending up in one or more international courts. The first to market with the proper protection in place are the ones that take the arrows in the back. Who's doing the shooting, and for what reasons, often makes its way into the press, no matter how bonifide or how frivolous the dispute. The downside is always the distraction that's so often created within and around the companies involved. That's why we're always preaching "license, cross-license, 2nd source... whatever works and is equitable for all involved. Just get on with business!" Of course, if suing people is your business... or defending those who are, that's a different story.

Many suits are simply dismissed by the press when first announced, and quickly disappear from media posts until, or unless, dismissed by the courts or settled before getting there. Cases in point are when class action suits are being formed by professional legal teams that specialize in just that... class actions. Personally, I simply ignore any press release announcing a class action suit against a publicly held company, because nine times out of ten they prove to be frivolous. In the USA, the press likens those to vultures circling. The initiator's goal is to amortize their legal fees and risk by forming some kind of attack group which shares the settlement if their side wins. Another example would be those cases which are brought before the courts that anyone can see are simply what I call ankle biters. Although they can become painful nuisances, that's all they really all are (you just have to be sure the little dog that bites doesn't have rabies). The danger is that, in both such situations, the employees of the companies involved get distracted from their real jobs, and those distractions can spread to shareholders and customers. That's why sensible lawyers advise against such pursuits, and judges simply throw it out of court to move on to more important cases.

In the case of Super Vision versus Color Kinetics (CK) which has made its way into a variety of press sources lately (among which we point you to LEDs Magazine's ongoing coverage which is very well written and appears to be balanced) we have no choice now but to weigh in. We've known about this case for some time and determined the dispute would likely be dismissed before going to court. While our preference is that the merits be determined in a court of law instead of in the media, since it's moving into the spotlight in business circles outside the core of our industry, we feel our comments could be helpful to our readers to better understanding this particular situation.

Super Vision is the newcomer to the SSL field. CK is the pioneer, with the clout of 31 patents behind it. Upon initial review, and relying on our own read of the actual patents, it appears that the prior art of the Belliveau patent, which appears at the crux of Super Vision's case, the rights to which Super Vision recently purchased four days prior to filing this second suit, pertains to mixing of colored light, specifically additive color mixing, using different colored light fixtures and lamps. The CK patent, US#6,016,038 is very specific that it is mixing LED lighting using the pulse width modulation to create various colors and effects. CK has also fortified its 038 patent with many others that include numerous control methods for LED lighting. The Belliveau patent, US#4,962,687 was clearly written without addressing LED lighting and looks to be based on old technology, not LEDs. The Belliveau patent is also due soon to expire, which will render the issue mote. It would seem the source of the lighting has consistently been held to be relevant, or we shouldn't be seeing approval of many LED-based patents above the materials or diode itself.

But as we dig a bit more, we see there's another consideration, which was alluded to in the beginning of this editorial. Who's doing the shooting? And why are they gunning for CK? The head of Super Vision and catalyst behind a drive dubbed The LED Alliance, is a man named Brett Kingstone. A Google confirms what many in the industry already know, which is that Mr. Kingstone has a litigious history. We point interested readers to an article written about Mr. Kingstone back in 1989 in Inc. a very reputable and popular USA business magazine found on news stands throughout the world which was one of his first highly publicized IP disputes that made it to court. The article chronicling the trial is titled "Blind Ambition." Mr. Kingstone's company then was called FiberView and the company he challenged was ADTI. For the benefit of our international readers, I stress that Inc. is a very credible business publication and the 1989 article represents their usual, well written style and was authored by a respected journalist, Edward O. Welles. The close of the article is especially illuminating and the scenario back then is quite similar to the dispute he is waging now against CK.

While the merits of the suit against CK will ultimately be determined in the courtroom, bringing it to the forefront within traditional advanced LED business circles serves the purpose of reminding is that the SSL industry has rapidly moved to the stage where it is experiencing the same growing pains that mark other ground-shaking industries. It also reminds us that we've moved quickly away from the entrepreneurial business model that initially shaped the business of making HB-LEDs, and now the integration of them into SSL solutions, and that by moving up the foodchain into volume process, production and marketing models, our field now attracts a wider variety of players. The memorable USA brokerage firm advertising tag line that went: "We make money the old-fashioned way. We earn it," seems to get forgotten and all too often the mentality expressed in the movie Wall Street kicks in. The chilling point in that 1987 classic movie is where Michael Douglas chants... "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works!" This isn't the first dispute and it won't be the last, but I adhere to an editorial preference that more industry headlines be generated from what goes on in the conference room than the courtroom.

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