Patent Dispute - Next Round: A Lawsuit Is Filed Against Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. for Defamation
Nichia Corporation announced today that it filed a lawsuit in the Seoul Central District Court seeking compensation for damages for defamation against Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (“Seoul Semiconductor”).
The lawsuit is based upon Nichia’s judgment that Seoul Semiconductor damaged Nichia’s reputation by distributing false statements to the press in connection with the jury verdict in the design infringement lawsuit that was filed by Nichia in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, (the “Court”) against Seoul Semiconductor in January, 2006.
On November 8, 2007, the jury rendered a verdict in the above lawsuit, stating that Seoul Semiconductor had willfully infringed the 4 U.S. design rights held by Nichia. Nichia anticipates that the Court will enter a judgment around January, 2008, based upon the verdict.
Nichia believes that Seoul Semiconductor posted false statements on its home page, which states that ‘Seoul Semiconductor has substantially prevailed in the litigation’ and the products at issue are ’actually non-infringing’, and distributed press releases with the same contents as the above.
In this connection, Nichia filed a defamation lawsuit against Seoul Semiconductor for the payment of damages in the amount of KRW 500,000,000 (JPY about 60,000,000) and for remedies necessary for the restoration of its reputation.
