Signaling the end of a patent battle lasting for almost three years, Korea’s Intellectual Property Tribunal (IPT) rejected an attempt to invalidate Dow Corning’s patent 10-976075. The patent is among Dow Corning’s rich intellectual property (IP) portfolio covering the company’s proprietary high refractive index (RI) phenyl-based optical silicone technology, which offers numerous high-value benefits to LED devices. Handed down by the IPT on August 9, the decision in favor of Dow Corning significantly strengthens its intellectual property position for the technology in Korea, as well as in other key global LED manufacturing centers, including the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, China, Malaysia and Europe.
“Dow Corning is clearly delighted and very encouraged by the IPT’s decision,” said Gregg Zank, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Dow Corning. “We are committed not only to ground-breaking development of high-performance LED materials, but also to rigorously defending the high-value intellectual property that protects our products."