USITC terminates investigation into Chinese LED manufacturers
Three Chinese LED companies have won a victory in a patent case after the US International Trade Commission (ITC) terminated its investigation.
In a statement on Thursday, February 21, the commission said it would be terminating the investigation in its entirety based on the withdrawal from the case of the complainant, Dallas-based company Ultravision Technologies.
The commission had instituted the investigation after Ultravision alleged that the three companies, Shanghai Sansi Electronic Engineering, CreateLED Electronics and Yaham Optoelectronics violated US law for “unfair practices in import trade” (USC 1337).
Ultravision said the companies violated the code by importing and selling LED displays in the US which infringed two of its patents (US numbers 9,349,306 and 9,916,782) for modular display panels.
But on November 27, 2018, Ultravision had moved to terminate the investigation. It said it had entered into a confidential term sheet agreement with Sansi.
According to the ITC, no other party filed a response to the motion.
International law firm Orrick, which represented the Chinese companies, said the victory marks “a crucial milestone” for the companies’ overseas expansions.
Ethan Ma, a partner at Orrick in Shanghai, said it was an important win for Chinese LED manufacturers because “China has become the largest manufacturing base for LED displays”.
“Our clients have maintained all along that they clearly did not infringe Ultravision’s patents and the complaint was without merit,” Ma added.
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