January 11, 2025  

5 Things to Know:  January 11

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U.S. senator calls for an incandescent comeback. Plus, a European firm has made its second acquisition in 2 months.

 

Here's a roundup of some of the week's happenings curated to help lighting people stay informed. 

 

1.  U.S. Senator Calls for Incandescent Comeback

The Post Millennial (TPM), a conservative Canadian media site, reports that U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is urging the incoming Trump administration to lift the Biden-era ban on incandescent light bulbs. In a statement to TPM, Lee asserted, “Americans should be able to buy and use the lightbulbs they want, and certainly shouldn’t be limited to a range of choices chosen by unelected, federal bureaucrats.” The ban, implemented in August 2023, aimed to promote energy efficiency but reversed a prior deregulation by the first Trump administration.

Lee, who has consistently criticized appliance regulations, recently posted on X, "Who else wants to bring back real light bulbs in 2025?"  TPM adds that he has previously opposed the Department of Energy’s regulatory approach, suggesting such decisions should be made by elected officials, not federal agencies. The senator also called for less oversight on items like shower heads and other household products, highlighting what he sees as government overreach.

 

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2 .  Beghelli and Performance in Lighting Parent Acquires TVILIGHT

The parent company of Beghelli and Performance in Lighting, Italy-based GEWISS, has acquired a 75% stake in TVILIGHT, a Netherlands-based leader in smart city lighting solutions. This acquisition enhances GEWISS’s portfolio and global reach, building on its December €50.7 million purchase of a controlling stake in Beghelli and its earlier acquisition of Performance in Lighting. TVILIGHT’s expertise in intelligent street lighting will strengthen GEWISS’s position in the smart lighting market while supporting TVILIGHT’s continued growth under its independent brand.

These strategic moves underscore GEWISS’s commitment to expanding its presence in international markets and delivering advanced lighting and energy solutions. The integration of Beghelli’s life safety products, Performance in Lighting’s architectural offerings, and TVILIGHT’s smart city technologies positions GEWISS as a major player in the evolving global lighting industry.

 

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3.   EdisonReport Plagiarizes Again

EdisonReport, a lighting industry trade publication, ended 2024 continuing its repeated plagiarism practices. On December 30, EdisonReport published a 1200-word article titled "DOE Gives $11.5 Million for LED Lighting Projects Nationwide" This story was a word-for-word reproduction of an original Forbes article by Noël Fletcher, with a glaring change being the removal of the author’s name. Although EdisonReport later deleted the article, it mirrored a recurring issue where plagiarized content generates website traffic for days, weeks or months before being quietly taken down without acknowledgment.

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Above: Forbes article, stripped of its author’s name, was republished verbatim by EdisonReport.

This incident follows nearly two years of reports exposing widespread copyright infringement by EdisonReport, involving content from dozens of unattributed publications. Publisher Randy Reid finally admitted to the problem in August 2024 but attributed it to an anonymous third party in Europe, ignoring the systematic nature of the plagiarism. Reid has yet to issue public apologies to nearly all affected publications, which include design firms, other trade publications and mainstream media. 

 

Best in Class Practices?

In response to its exposure for rampant plagiarism, EdisonReport stated in August that after 25 years of publishing, it would now take “multiple bold steps to ensure the integrity” of its content by implementing strict editorial guidelines, software checks, A.I. scans, and contributor training to achieve best-in-class policies and procedures.” However, plagiarism is easily avoidable even without such measures, suggesting that Reid failed to follow through on his promises. This latest plagiarized article would not have slipped through the rigorous standards Reid claimed to implement.

In 2023, Reid admitted that for nearly four years, EdisonReport inflated its web traffic statistics to potential advertisers. EdisonReport tripled its audience size, misleading advertisers to attract more advertising dollars and unfairly compete against other trade media.

 

Misleading Justifications

EdisonReport sometimes justifies its plagiarism of copyrighted content by adding a discreet link to the original work at the very bottom of the plagiarized article. However, such links fail to provide proper attribution or establish permission to blatantly copy the material.

Reid has a history of casting himself as a victim when his unethical practices are made public, but this incident highlights another instance where the real victims — in this case, Forbes and Noël Fletcher —remain unacknowledged. Their original content, effort, expense and resources were infringed upon and monetized by Reid without consent, adding to EdisonReport’s longstanding pattern of unethical behavior.

 


4.   Signify’s Influencer Campaign Claims Record-Breaking Success

Signify, the world's largest lighting company, has occasionally employed influencer marketing strategies across Europe and Asia, but its latest effort, featuring Indian cricket legend Rahul Dravid, is being promoted as a smashing success. The campaign, titled "Hum Raaton Mein Sooraj Ugaate Hain," achieved a staggering 200 million impressions. "A massive benchmark set across the industry with 200M+ impressions for the TVC," the company stated. The commercial was part of a comprehensive 60-day campaign spanning social media, TV, and outdoor advertising, with prime-time placements on popular shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati and Big Boss.

This milestone aligns with Signify's #BrighterLivesBetterWorld vision, showcasing the benefits of Philips lighting solutions. The brand’s partnership with Dravid, who praised the campaign’s inspiring message, has reportedly boosted consumer engagement and brand favorability. Building on this momentum, Signify plans to continue delivering innovative and impactful campaigns.

 


5.   New ANSI Standard Expands Chromaticity for LED Lighting

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has released an update to its C78.377 standard, incorporating expanded correlated color temperature (CCT) quadrangles for 2000K and 1800K. The work, spearheaded by Tony Esposito, PhD, alongside Leora Radetsky of DesignLights Consortium (DLC), stems from a project funded by the DLC, that evaluated non-white light sources to mitigate negative impacts of light at night. Their efforts produced a DLC whitepaper and a peer-reviewed article proposing the expanded quadrangles, which have now been integrated into the 2024 revision of the standard.

In a LinkedIn post, Esposito described the project as “one of the highlights of my career.” He expressed gratitude to the ANSI C78 committee, particularly Michael Erbesfeld and Yoshi Ohno, for their leadership throughout the process. The updated standard applies to LED-based solid-state lighting (SSL) products, providing clearer communication of white light chromaticities to consumers. The full standard is available for purchase through NEMA for $168.

 

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