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Update on Rothschild case on short wavelength LEDs

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Concerning the ITC action by emerita professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild concerning US patent 5,252,499, a report at Semiconductor Today gave the following update:

Rothschild has already reached licensing deals with 13 firms, including Sony, Sanyo, Seoul Semiconductor Co Ltd, LG Electronics, Lucky Light Electronics Co Ltd, Everlight Electronics Co Ltd, Samsung Electro-Mechanical, Seiwa Electric Mfg Co Ltd, Shenzhen Unilight Electronic Co Ltd, Guangzhou Hongli Opto-Electronic Co Ltd, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co Ltd, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and Lite-On Inc.

The Semiconductor Today story also noted:

In addition, several firms that were not named in the ITC case have expressed interest in reaching licensing agreements. ?We have been asked to review which other companies should be added to the ITC action,? say Dreier LLP intellectual property partners Albert L. Jacobs Jr and Daniel Ladow, representing Rothschild. ?We have found several companies which we believe can and should be added,? continues Jacobs. ?While doing that, we remain open to discussions, both with respondents and those not yet in the action.?

The Rothschild story illustrates another Lemley-ism biting the dust. See for example
http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2008/04/on-fighting-giants.html

Separately, the Patent Hawk blog had a comment:

I challenge everybody here to produce a single example of a small startup "approaching the larger company and offering a license, or attempting to establish a partnership" which ended up as success story
I am not aware of any such examples, even in the pre-EBay era (remember NTP vs. RIM ? the initial licensing proposal from NTP was more than reasonable...)

Although IPBiz recognizes that there are many examples of small companies offering licenses to larger companies, and being rebuffed or ignored, the Rothschild story is an example which negates the comment on the PatentHawk blog.

Full post as published by IPBiz on August 12, 2008 (boomark / email).