HC SemiTek sues Sanan Optoelectronics for LED chip patent infringement

On August 8, Shanghai Securities News reported that Huacan Optoelectronics has sued Sanan Optoelectronics for infringing its patents, and the court has officially filed the case. This time, it sued Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., Xiamen Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., Anhui Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. and other companies for infringing its two core patents, ZL 201220399415.7 [Case No.: (2021) Yue 03 Minchu 1945] and ZL 201811133968.6 [Case No.: (2021) Yue 03 Minchu 1946], with the names of "High-voltage light-emitting diode chip" and "Light-emitting diode epitaxial wafer and its manufacturing method" respectively.

HC Semitek requires Sanan Optoelectronics to stop manufacturing, promising to sell and selling products that infringe patent rights, destroy all equipment and related molds used to produce infringing products, and compensate HC Semitek for economic losses totaling 80 million yuan.

A lawyer analyzed that the purpose of Huacan's lawsuit is very clear, which is to "stop lawsuits with lawsuits." There are two clear signs of this. First, the patent chosen for the lawsuit is "similar" to the patent previously sued by San'an, and second, the amount of compensation was also chosen to be 80 million yuan.

As early as September 2020, Sanan Optoelectronics sued Huacan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., Huacan Optoelectronics (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd., Huacan Optoelectronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. and others for infringing its invention patent No. ZL201210286901.2 and invention patent No. ZL02142952.9. The patent names are "Nitride semiconductor light-emitting devices and methods for manufacturing the same" and "Semiconductor light-emitting elements and semiconductor light-emitting devices" respectively.

It is understood that Sanan Optoelectronics requires Huacan Optoelectronics to stop manufacturing, promising to sell and selling applications that infringe the above patents, including TV backlight, consumer display backlight, automotive display backlight, and LED chips in the display and lighting fields, destroy all equipment and related molds used to produce infringing products, and compensate Sanan Optoelectronics for economic losses totaling 80 million yuan.

After that, HC SemiTek initiated invalidation procedures against two patents of Sanan Optoelectronics. However, the State Intellectual Property Office recently issued a "Decision on the Examination of Invalidation Request", with decision number 50993 and patent number 201210286901.2, maintaining the validity of the patent rights. The patent owner is Xiamen Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Sanan Optoelectronics), and the invalidation requester is HC SemiTek Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as HC SemiTek).

An industry insider told Jiwei.com that "Huacan Optoelectronics' failure to initiate invalidation proceedings against Sanan Optoelectronics' two patents shows that Sanan Optoelectronics' patent rights for these two patents are very stable, and there is a high probability that it will win the subsequent lawsuits, which can not only recover the company's economic losses, but also enhance the company's market competitiveness."

According to industry insiders, the lawsuits between the two companies may be closely related to the competition for the high-end LED market. As the two leading domestic LED chip companies, both parties have continued to adjust their product structure in recent years and accelerated their layout in the high-end market, which is also the hottest Mini-LED/Micro-LED field.

In terms of high-end Mini-LED products, Sanan Optoelectronics has achieved batch supply of Mini-LED chips to Samsung, becoming its primary supplier and signing a supply agreement; it has established a joint laboratory with TCL Huaxing to promote the marketization of Micro LED. At the same time, it is accelerating the industrialization project of Hubei Sanan Mini/Micro display. In addition, there are rumors in the industry that Sanan Optoelectronics will cooperate with Apple.

Another leading LED chip company, HC Semitek, also began to optimize its product structure in 2019, focusing on high-end fields such as Mini LED chips. It also cooperated with companies such as Nationstar Optoelectronics, Innolux, and Unilumin Technology.