The history of white LED development (1) - the exclusive monopoly collapse, ushering in the era of competition
"There will be no good benefits if the lawsuit is played again" (Toyota Synthetic). The Nichia Chemical Industry and Toyota Synthetic, which launched a lawsuit battle against patent infringement such as blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), finally reached a settlement on September 17, 2002.
Product manufacturers welcomed the settlement: "The era of blue LEDs is finally available." There are roughly two reasons for this. One is to embed the blue LEDs of Nichia Chemical Industry and Toyota Synthesizer on the equipment, so there is no need to worry about getting involved in legal disputes. Previously, the use of any of the blue LEDs was likely to be prosecuted by the other party.
Another reason is that the number of manufacturers involved in the blue LED market has increased, and the possibility that "prices are more than one-digit higher than red LEDs" has been eliminated. Even if Nichia Chemical Industry and Toyota Synthetic reach a settlement, there is no guarantee that other manufacturers will not infringe the patent rights of the two companies when manufacturing blue LEDs. However, this settlement means a change in the strategic direction of the Nichia Chemical Industry patent. Previously, the company had always held the attitude of “selling products without selling patentsâ€, but with this settlement as an opportunity, technical licenses may be provided in the future. In this way, the manufacturer will obtain the license to use the patent rights of Nichia Chemical Industry. The threshold for getting involved in the blue LED market has actually fallen.
The reason for the settlement of the Nichia Chemical Industry and Toyota Synthetic, which has been in operation for six consecutive years since 1996, is because the environment in which the blue LED is located has changed dramatically (Figure 1). The two companies have been leading the development of the blue LED market with supply and technical strength, but now it is impossible to assert who is the absolute leader. This is because competitors have emerged in Japan and abroad, and have begun to rise rapidly.
"Current output power is not inferior to Nichia Chemical Industry and Toyota Synthetic", the United States Cree, and "the manufacturing cost is only half of the Japanese manufacturers" (Taiwan Huashang Optoelectronics) Taiwanese manufacturers have been in the Japanese chemical industry and Toyota synthesis, etc. Fight for hegemony.
Although competitors have risen, for other LED manufacturers, Nichia Chemical Industry and Toyota Synthetic still have a special status. The reason is that many patents for GaN-based light-emitting elements such as blue LEDs are still in the hands of these two companies, especially in the hands of the Japanese chemical industry. In the period of market and technology change, what kind of patent strategy and technology development strategy are adopted by the two companies after the settlement, it is related to whether the two companies can outperform other companies.
For other manufacturers, there is an opportunity to obtain new patents as the use of low-power technologies such as blue LEDs is urgently required to expand. This is related to the fact that in the future market, these manufacturers are either annexed by Nichia Chemical Industry or Toyota Synthetic or they are annexed to each other. (Reporter: Okubo Satoshi, Nikkei Electronics)
In the figure, the types and litigation cases of GaN-based LEDs such as blue LEDs and white LEDs since the introduction of blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in 1993 by Nichia Chemical Industry are listed in chronological order. Initially, the GaN-based LED market was dominated by blue LEDs, and the Nichia Chemical Industry has been in a favorable position in litigation, but the situation changed around 2001. The involvement of Taiwanese manufacturers has led to a sharp decline in the price of blue LEDs, and the focus of the GaN-based LED market has shifted to white LEDs with higher added value. Nichia Chemical Industry lost successively.
Edit: Sophy
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