The biggest companies in the lighting and semiconductor industries collectively hold hundreds of patents relating to areas including raw materials, chip fabrication, packaging and associated “secondary emission” phosphor processes which turn blue light into white. IP development is a cornerstone of the competitiveness of this industry. A key strategy for survival is to out-innovate the competition with new materials systems and platforms, and it does not hurt to have enough cash on hand to vigorously enforce and defend generated IP. Memoori’s new LED research report shows that 80-90% of LED patents are held in Europe, Japan and the USA. Most reputable lighting brands selling lamps or luminaires with 50-75 or more lumens per watt, still source their LEDs from one of the major household name makers of single LEDs or one specific maker of arrays using their own chips. To date, few Chinese LED lighting manufacturers have been “invited to the party” in terms of […]