17 August 2012

Osram and Samsung settle all LED lawsuits, including license agreements for patent portfolios

Osram AG (a subsidiary of Siemens AG of Munich, Germany and the world’s second largest lighting manufacturer) and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (the world’s largest maker of TVs, memory chips and smartphones) have agreed to settle all patent infringement lawsuits between them worldwide. The patent suits had been filed in various countries including Germany, South Korea and the USA.

In the USA in particular, Samsung had filed a case against Osram with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington, and that was scheduled for trial on 13 August. Osram’s case against Samsung went to trial in July, and the judge had been expected to release findings in October.

The parties now say that they will dismiss all suits as expeditiously as possible, with a settlement consequently expected to be finalized by the end of August.

As part of the settlement, the parties have reached license agreements for their respective LED patent portfolios. The parties have also signed a separate memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the possibilities of jointly developing future LED-based products.

“We are glad to enter with Samsung in a new area of partnership-based competition. We respect the intellectual property rights of other companies and it is our ongoing policy to reach license agreements with other manufacturers of LED products. Along these lines, we appreciate this out-of-court settlement with Samsung,” says Osram’s CEO Wolfgang Dehen.

“With the patent suits now behind us, we look forward to building a strategic relationship with Osram on a number of different fronts. There is a great deal of respect and also competition between the two companies. We believe the two companies now have an opportunity to significantly contribute to the LED industry and offer better products to our customers,” says Namseong Cho, executive VP & general manager of Samsung Electronics’ LED business.

See related items:

Samsung LED counter-sues Osram in US ITC

Samsung LED counter-sues Osram in Korea

ITC investigates Osram's allegation of LED patent infringement

Osram sues Samsung and LG for LED patent infringement

Tags: Osram Samsung LEDs LED patent infringement

Visit: www.osram.com

Visit: www.samsung.com