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To: Don Green who wrote (5421)	6/14/2001 9:16:22 AM
From: slacker711	Respond to of 10714

Another article about Nichia in court.... Thursday, June 14, 2001 Nichia Patent Policy Provokes Lawsuits On Blue LEDs TOKYO (Nikkei)--Nichia Corp., a leading producer of blue light-emitting diodes, has consistently maintained a policy of refusing to license out processes or technologies on which it holds a patent where it regards these as fundamental. Competitors, however, are producing blue LEDs using methods they claim they developed on their own, leading to patent conflicts. Toyoda Gosei Co. (7282) on Tuesday won a lawsuit against Nichia over a patent related to the basic structure of blue LEDs. The ruling against Nichia does not appear to put the company's overwhelming lead in blue LEDs at risk, given the large number of patents it holds on related manufacturing methods and other processes. Nichia and Toyoda have between them filed nine lawsuits relating to patent infringements with the Tokyo District Court. Nichia won two cases last year, with Toyoda appealing the rulings. This year, Nichia has suffered consecutive losses in the courts. In March, it lost a lawsuit filed by Toyoda to uphold the validity of Toyoda's blue-LED patent. In May, Nichia lost a case it filed against Sumitomo Corp. (8053) asking that the trading company be barred from selling blue LEDs imported from a U.S. company. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Thursday morning edition)