Several new green patent complaints were filed in May and June in the areas of electric vehicles, eco-friendly pet products, LEDs, and lighting control technology.

 

Electric Vehicles

Nikola Corporation v. Tesla, Inc.

Nikola filed this lawsuit accusing Tesla of infringing three design patents for an electric heavy duty truck design.

The patents-in-suit are and a representative figure from the patents is shown below:

U.S. Patent No. D811,944, entitled “Fuselage”

U.S. Patent No. D811,968, entitled “Wrap windshield”

U.S. Patent No. D816,004, entitled “Side door”

The complaint alleges that Tesla’s Semi truck trailer design infringes the patents.

 

Green Pet Products

The Green Pet Shop Enterprises, LLC v. Argento SC By Sicura Inc.

The Green Pet Shop Enterprises, LLC v. Dogo Pet Fashions

These lawsuits involve pet pad technology that cools your pets without water or electricity.  The Argento complaint was filed May 11, 2018 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the Dogo complaint was filed May 27, 2018 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The asserted patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 8,720,218 and 9,226,474, both entitled “Pressure activated recharging cooling platform” and directed to a cooling platform comprising a temperature regulation layer, a support layer, and a channeled covering layer.

The temperature regulation layer is adapted to hold a composition and has a plurality of angled segments, wherein angled segments within a sealed perimeter of the temperature regulation layer are formed by a top side and a bottom side at a predefined distance, and channels, wherein the channels substantially form sides by contacting the top side with the bottom side at a distance lesser than the predefined distance.

The complaints allege that Argento’s Avalanche Pet Cooling Mat and Dogo’s SICool Mat Gel infringe the two patents.

 

LEDs

Epistar Corporation v. V-TAC USA Corp.

Epistar sued V-TAC in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on May 7, 2018.

The complaint asserts infringement of seven patents:

U.S. Patent No. 6,346,771, titled “High Power LED Lamp”

U.S. Patent No. 7,489,068, titled “Light Emitting Device”

U.S. Patent No. 7,560,738, titled “Light-Emitting Diode Array Having An Adhesive Layer”

U.S. Patent No. 8,240,881, titled “Light-Emitting Device Package”

U.S. Patent No. 9,065,022, titled, “Light Emitting Apparatus”

U.S. Patent No. 9,488,321, titled “Illumination Device With Inclined Light Emitting Element Disposed On A Transparent Substrate” and

U.S. Patent No. 9,664,340, titled “Light Emitting Device”

The accused products are V-TAC’s LED filament bulbs.

 

Seoul Semiconductor Co. et al. v. Bed, Bath & Beyond, Inc.

This lawsuit was filed May 8, 2018 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California alleging infringement of eight LED patents.

The asserted patents are:

U.S. Patent No. 8,168,988, entitled “Light emitting element with a plurality of cells bonded, method of manufacturing the same, and light emitting device using the same”

U.S. Patent No. 7,906,789, entitled “Warm white light emitting apparatus and back light module comprising the same”

U.S. Patent No. 8,120,054, entitled “Light emitting diode package having heat dissipating slugs”

U.S. Patent No. 8,829,552, entitled “Light emitting device”

U.S. Patent No. 9,577,157, entitled “Light emitting diode chip having distributed Bragg reflector and method of fabricating the same”

U.S. Patent No. 7,982,207, entitled “Light emitting diode”

U.S. Patent No. 9,716,210, entitled “Light emitting diode and method of fabricating the same”

U.S. Patent No. 6,942,731, entitled “Method for improving the efficiency of epitaxially produced quantum dot semiconductor components”

The complaint alleges that Bed Bath & Beyond’s sales of several FEIT Electric LED products such as, inter alia, FEIT Electric’s BPC7/LED/CAN accent LED night light and OM60/580/LED/CAN 800 lumen 5000K Dimmable LED bulb infringe one or more of the asserted patents.

 

Smart Light Source Company, LLC v. Railhead Corporation et al.

This lawsuit involves LED headlights for trains.  Smart Light Source seeks a declaratory judgment that it does not infringe U.S. Patent No. 9,499,180 (‘180 Patent).

The ‘180 Patent is entitled “Locomotive headlamp” and directed to a locomotive headlamp comprising one or more LED bulbs, wherein the headlamp reduces the parasitic load of the locomotive causes the heat generated by the LED bulbs to prevent snow and ice impaction.

The complaint was filed May 31, 2018 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

 

Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. Home Ever, Inc.

Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. Revogi Innovation Co.

Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. Revogi, LLC

Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. Brand W, LLC

In these lawsuits, Technical LED accuses the defendants of infringing U.S. Patent No. RE41,685, entitled “Light source with non-white and phosphor-based white LED devices and LCD assembly” (‘685 Patent).

The’ 685 Patent is directed to a light source incorporating phosphor-based white and non-white LEDs, which may be raised off the floor of the optical cavity to permit light to be emitted from the base of the LED.  A reflective protrusion may be placed beneath the raised LED to aid in redirecting light forward, and the LEDs may be skewed in relation to adjacent LEDs to reduce interference.

The Home Ever complaint was filed June 6, 2018 in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, the Revogi Innovation complaint was filed June 7, 2018 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Revogi  complaint was filed June 27, 2018 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and the Brand W complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on June 18, 2018.

The accused products are Home Ever’s Lighting Ever light bulbs and ceiling lights, Revogi light bulbs and Delite 2 smart LED lights, Brand W’s MIPOW BTL-400-BK Playbulb and MIPOW E26 Bluetooth Smart LED.

 

NEXT Lighting Corp. v. General Electric Company

NEXT sued GE for alleged infringement of a relating to high brightness LED lighting units.

The asserted patent is U.S. Patent No. 8,491,165 (‘165 Patent), entitled “Lighting unit having lighting strips with light emitting elements and a remote luminescent material.”

The ‘165 Patent is directed to a lighting unit having a support structure, and one or more light emitting elements supported by a circuit board contacting the support structure.  A remote luminescent material may be provided on one or more optical elements.  Light emitting elements configured to excite the luminescent material such as highly efficient light emitting diodes may be directed towards the luminescent material.

Filed June 11, 2018 in federal court in Dallas, the complaint lists as an exemplary accused product GE’s Lumination LED Luminaire – LIS Series.

 

Lighting Control Systems

SIPCO, LLC v. RAB Lighting Inc.

Atlanta-based patent licensing and assertion company Sipco LLC sued RAB in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on May 8, 2018.

The complaint lists several patents relating to lighting monitoring and control technology: U.S. Patent Nos. 7,103,511, 7,468,661, 6,914,893, 7,263,073, 6,836,737,  and 8,924,587.

The accused products are RAB’s Lightcloud line of wireless lighting control systems.

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