Seoul Semiconductor and its affiliate, Seoul BioSys, have successfully obtained a ruling in India to ban the sale of optical semiconductor products that infringe on their patents, following similar actions in Europe and the United States. As the applications of optical semiconductors expand beyond automotive and display technologies to include artificial intelligence (AI) data communication, the company is reinforcing its patent protections for core technologies.
On August 12, Seoul BioSys announced that it had won a lawsuit against the Indian renewable energy company, Oneate Agency, for distributing and selling products that violated its optical semiconductor application technology patents.
The Delhi High Court in India prohibited the sale of the infringing products and issued an injunction against the CEO, preventing involvement in similar patent infringement activities.
Seoul Semiconductor and Seoul BioSys have recently secured patent protection rulings in key markets. In February, a U.S. court issued a sales ban on products from Laser Components USA that used chips supplied by PhotonWave.
In Europe, the sanctions were even more severe. In June of last year, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) ordered a sales ban on products infringing on Seoul Semiconductor's WICOP technology, along with a recall and disposal of already distributed products.
The global optical semiconductor market is expected to exceed $200 billion by 2034, as its applications expand to automotive lighting, displays, and AI optical communications.
This lawsuit involved technologies that enhance the brightness of optical semiconductors and the WICOP technology, which enables LED implementation without wiring, along with related sterilization technologies. Seoul Semiconductor and Seoul BioSys hold approximately 15,000 patents.
Unlike simple damages, sales bans and recalls directly restrict the market distribution of infringing products. With consecutive injunctions secured in major markets, the burden of patent compliance is likely to increase for not only finished product manufacturers but also chip suppliers and distributors.
Lee Jeong-hoon, founder of Seoul Semiconductor, stated, "To ensure that patents are respected globally, strict accountability must be imposed on companies and individuals involved in infringement. An environment must be created where young people and entrepreneurs can have opportunities through technological development."
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.