On April 30, 2019, Lighting Science Group Corporation (“LSG”) of West Warwick, Rhode Island, Healthe, Inc. (“Healthe”) of Cocoa Beach, Florida, and Global Value Lighting, LLC (“GVL”) of West Warwick, Rhode Island (collectively, “Complainants”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337. Due to its large electronic size, we have broken the complaint into the following six parts: part 1; part 2, part 3; part 4; part 5; and part 6.

The complaint alleges that the following entities (collectively, the “Proposed Respondents”) unlawfully import into the U.S., sell for importation, and/or sell within the U.S. after importation certain light-emitting diode products, systems, and components that infringe one or more claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,098,483 (“the ’483 patent”), 7,095,053 (“the ’053 patent”), 7,528,421 (“the ’421 patent”), 8,506,118 (“the ’118 patent”), 8,674,608 (“the ’608 patent”), 8,201,968 (“the ’968 patent”), 8,967,844 (“the ’844 patent”), and 8,672,518 (“the ’518 patent”):

• Nichia Corp. of Japan
• Nichia America Corp. of Torrance, California
• Cree, Inc. of Durham, North Carolina
• Cree Hong Kong, Ltd. of Hong Kong
• Cree Huizhou Solid State Lighting Co., Ltd. of China
• OSRAM Licht AG of Germany
• OSRAM GmbH of Germany
• OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH of Germany
• OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California
• Lumileds Holding B.V. of the Netherlands
• Lumileds, LLC of San Jose, California
• Signify N.V. (Philips Lighting N.V.) of the Netherlands
• Signify North America Corp. (Philips Lighting North America Corp.) of Somerset, New Jersey
• MLS Co., Ltd. of China
• LEDVANCE GmbH of Germany
• LEDVANCE, LLC of Wilmington, Massachusetts
• General Electric Co. of Boston, Massachusetts
• Consumer Lighting, LLC (“GE Lighting”) of Cleveland, Ohio
• Acuity Brands, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia
• Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. of Conyers, Georgia
• Eaton Corp., PLC of Ireland
• Cooper Lighting, LLC of Peachtree City, Georgia
• Cooper Industries, LLC of Houston, Texas
• Leedarson Lighting Co., Ltd. of China
• Leedarson America, Inc. of Smyrna, Georgia

According to the complaint, the Asserted Patents generally relate to various aspects and features of LED assemblies and luminaires. In particular, the ’483 patent relates to an LED assembly for high temperature operation that includes a dedicated thermal connection where the LED diodes are thermally coupled to a dedicated thermal connection surface. The ’053 patent relates to LED packages including an LED diode thermally coupled to a thermal connection pad. The ’421 patent relates to an LED assembly for high temperature operation and surface mounting that includes a thermally conductive region in contact with a thermally conducting base. The ’118 patent relates to LED lighting components and fixtures including a monolithic substrate with a plurality of LEDs electrically coupled in parallel or the LED light fixture having an LED light emission module in the housing and a plurality of convex lenses associated with one of the LEDs. The ’608 patent relates to luminaires including smart lighting systems for detecting environmental conditions, operating in different modes, and controlling the luminaire. The ’968 patent relates to luminaires including low-profile LED lights. Lastly, the ’844 patent relates to luminaires for low-profile lighting applications.

Regarding domestic industry, Complainants state that a domestic industry exists as a result of significant investment in plant and equipment and significant employment of labor and capital with respect to articles protected by the Asserted Patents. Complainants further state that substantial investment in the exploitation of the Asserted Patents and licensees’ activities within the United States also establish a domestic industry for each of the Asserted Patents.

In the complaint, Complainants state that the Proposed Respondents import and sell products that infringe the asserted patents. The complaint specifically refers to LED Packages, dimmable and non-dimmable LED light bulbs, LED Luminaires, smart LED light bulbs, smart wireless lighting systems, and LED downlight surface mounted fixtures.

As to related litigation, Complainants state that various lawsuits asserting the ’968, ’844, and ’518 patents against Proposed Respondents were filed in U.S. District Court.  In addition, Complainants state that the ’968, ’844, and ’518 patents were the subject of a number of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office inter partes review proceedings, including IPR 2016-01478, IPR 2017-01287, IPR 2017-01638, IPR 2018-00263, IPR 2018-00269, IPR 2016-01546, IPR 2017-01280, IPR 2017-01639, IPR 2018-00261, IPR 2018-00271, IPR 2017-01285, IPR 2017-01643, IPR 2018-00262, and IPR 2018-00270.