April 29, 2025
European Court Orders Recall of Infringing LED Products
Court sides with Seoul Semiconductor, orders injunction and €250K payout
In a recent decision from Europe's Unified Patent Court (UPC), the Local Division of Paris ruled that French distributor Laser Components SAS infringed a Seoul Semiconductor UV LED patent and ordered the recall and destruction of specific products from the European market. The decision also imposes financial penalties on the distributor.
The ruling, issued April 24, 2025, found that Laser Components sold products in France, Germany, and the Netherlands that infringed European Patent EP 3 404 726, held by Seoul Viosys Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Seoul Semiconductor. The court granted a permanent injunction barring the sale, marketing, or importation of the infringing products and ordered Laser Components to recall those products from the market under penalty of €1,000 per violation.
Seoul Semiconductor promotes its WICOP technology as a no-wire LED chip structure that improves light output and durability. The infringing products, supplied to Laser Components by Korean manufacturer Photon Wave Co., Ltd., were found to replicate key structural claims of the patent, including the arrangement of electrodes and passivation layers in the chip architecture.
The UPC also ordered Laser Components to pay €150,000 in provisional damages plus €50,000 for moral prejudice. Additionally, the company must cover €50,000 in legal costs and provide distribution data under threat of a €5,000 per day penalty for noncompliance.
The Underlying Impact
While Seoul Semiconductor's press release seemed to imply a wide European impact, the legal enforcement in this case applies only to France, Germany, and the Netherlands — three of the 18 countries under UPC jurisdiction.
Pursuing distribution channels is a common strategy in global IP enforcement. Distributors typically sell at higher prices (causing higher monetary damages), and cutting off access to downstream customers can put pressure on supply relationships. In this case, Seoul Semiconductor bypassed the manufacturer (Photon Wave) initially and targeted the European distributor, likely amplifying business consequences for both parties.
The court further ruled that Photon Wave, although not originally named, would be bound by the judgment due to its role as the maker of the infringing chips.
