Seoul Semiconductor Wins LED Bulb Litigation and Pursuit of Further Enforcement Actions against LED Lighting Retailers

ANSAN, South Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#KOSDAQ046890—Seoul
Semiconductor (KOSDAQ:046890) (collectively with Seoul Viosys Co.,
Ltd., “Seoul”), a leading global innovator of LED products and
technology, announced that the U.S. Federal District Court for Nevada
issued a judgment in favor of Seoul against Philcor T.V. & Electronic
Leasing, Inc. dba energyavenue.com (“Philcor”), a company that sells LED
lighting products.

Previously, Seoul filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Nevada District
Court against Philcor asserting infringement of 8 LED patents.

In the lawsuit, Philcor acknowledged that LED products used in the
accused products were manufactured by several third party suppliers and,
although previously unknown to Philcor, Philcor did not dispute that
those products infringed Seoul Semiconductor’s patents. Philcor also did
not dispute the validity of Seoul Semiconductor’s patents and agreed to
pay past damages, as well as a license fee, in order to affirm its
commitment to respecting the intellectual property of patents in
technologies for high-voltage operation (Acrich Driver), Acrich MJT
(multi-junction technology; over-6V high power chip), filament LED bulb
structure, LED packaging, LED epitaxial growth, and LED chip fabrication.

Other Enforcement Actions against LED Lighting Retailers
Seoul
continues a series of enforcement actions to prevent distribution of
suspected infringing products in the LED lighting market.

On March 2, Seoul filed a patent litigation for infringement of 10 LED
patents in the Texas Northern District federal court against Service
Lighting Electrical Supplies, Inc. – the operator of America’s largest
online retail channel for LED bulbs: 1000bulbs.com.

On May 8, Seoul initiated a patent infringement lawsuit for infringement
of 8 LED patents in the California Central District federal court
against Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., an American chain of big-box retail
stores having 1,550 stores. In the complaint, the accused products
include various LED bulbs supplied by Feit Electric.

At the end of August, Seoul also filed a patent infringement lawsuit for
infringement of 15 LED patents in the Texas Eastern District federal
court against Fry’s Electronics, a retail company of consumer
electronics – accusing UCD technology (KSF) that enables significant
improvement of color gamut of LCD displays such as TVs and smartphones
as well as optical lens technology of infringement.

In furtherance of its enforcement campaign, Seoul has also delivered
notices to manufacturers of various LED lighting products, as well as
their distributors, where it suspects infringement of its patents. Seoul
has warned these companies that they need to stop using LEDs and any
other components that may infringe upon Seoul’s patented technology.

Nam Ki-bum, Executive Vice President of the Lighting Department at
Seoul, said, “In order to create fair competition in the market and make
sure that intellectual property rights are respected, manufacturers as
well as distributors should take active precautionary measures not to
manufacture or sell infringing products” He added, “We will do our best
to encourage a fair-competition environment, in which young
entrepreneurs and small entities can succeed in the business world,
relying on fair competition in the market and respecting hard-earned
patented technology. This is one of the most valuable things Seoul
Semiconductor is pursuing.”

About Seoul Semiconductor
Seoul Semiconductor develops and
commercializes LEDs for automotive, general illumination, specialty
lighting, and backlighting markets. As the fourth-largest LED
manufacturer globally, Seoul Semiconductor holds more than 12,000
patents, offers a wide range of technologies, and products such as
SunLike – delivering the world’s best light quality in a next-generation
LED enabling human-centric lighting optimized for circadian rhythms;
WICOP – a simpler structured package-free LED which provides market
leading color uniformity and cost savings at the fixture level,
providing high lumen density and design flexibility; NanoDriver Series –
the world’s smallest 24W DC LED drivers; Acrich, the world’s first
high-voltage AC-driven LED technology developed in 2005, including all
AC LED-related technologies from chip to module and circuit fabrication,
as well as multi-junction technology (MJT); and nPola, a new LED product
based on GaN-substrate technology that achieves more than ten times the
output of conventional LEDs. UCD constitutes a high color gamut display
which delivers more than 90% NTSC.

Contacts

Seoul Semiconductor Inc.
Jeonghee Kim, +82-70-4391-8311
jeonghee.kim@seoulsemicon.com