One of the major green patent lawsuits I’ve been following in this space – GE Lighting v. Agilight – has settled. GE announced the settlement in a recent press release.
The suit involved four GE LED patents, some relating to use of LED modules for signage applications: U.S. Patent Nos. 7,160,140 (’140 Patent) and 7,832,896 (’896 Patent), entitled “LED String Light Engine,” U.S. Patent No. 7,520,771 entitled “LED String Light Engine and Devices that are Illuminated by the String Light Engine” (’771 Patent), and U.S. Patent No. 7,633,055 entitled “Sealed Light Emitting Diode Assemblies Including Annular Gaskets and Method of Making Same” (’055 Patent).
GE filed the suit against AgiLight back in February 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. After the district court issued a claim construction ruling favorable to AgiLight, GE joined in a stipulation that two of the ’140 and ’771 Patents were not infringed to expedite appeal of the claim construction decision.
Shortly thereafter, the district court granted AgiLight’s motion for summary judgment on the remaining claims of the ’055 Patent) and the ’896 Patent.
The terms of the settlement are confidential, but according to the press release the litigation was resolved “to the parties’ mutual satisfaction.”
If the terms included AgiLight taking a license to the patents, it was non-exclusive: GE Lighting’s General Manager – Global Product Management Jerry Duffy said the company is “offering non-exclusive licenses under these patents to interested parties.”
A recent article by three professors of business, energy and economics looks at the role of patents on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the process of injecting pressurized water and chemicals into subterranean formations to extract natural gas.