Sidley Austin LLP announced today that firm client Professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild has settled her patent infringement action against Philips Lumileds. The terms of the settlement are undisclosed. The action was brought in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Sidley team consisted of James D. Zirin and Ashe Puri, partner and associate respectively. Peter Toren of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP served as co-counsel.
On June 24, 2005, Professor Neumark commenced the action alleging that Philips Lumileds had infringed U.S. Patent No. 4,904,618, "Process for Doping Crystals of Wide Band Gap Semiconductors,"and U.S. Patent No. 5,252,499, "Wide Band-Gap Semiconductors Having Low Bipolar Resistivity and Method of Formation" through the unauthorized manufacture, importation, use, sale and/or offer for sale of light emitting diodes ("LEDs") and laser diode created using the processes described and claimed in each of these patents. LEDs are semiconductor diodes which convert electricity into light. Semiconductors are materials with resistivities in the range between metals and insulators, in which the electrical charge carrier concentration increases with increasing temperature over a given temperature range. Despite the recognized potential of LEDs, their commercial use was initially limited because it was not commercially feasible to produce LEDs in blue, green and other high spectral ranges. Through the process claimed in Professor Neumark's patents, it has become commercially feasible to produce such LEDs, and they have increasingly gained general acceptance as a superior lighting source.
Professor Neumark is one of the world's foremost experts on doping wide band-gap semiconductors. During research work at Columbia University, she conceived of the doping process that has had a significant impact on the quality of consumer products. In addition to the blue laser, her patented processes to create blue and ultraviolet LEDs are now used in a large number of products ranging from flat screen TVs, computers, traffic lights, instrument panels, as the background color for mobile-phone screens, in multicolor displays and in numerous other lighting applications.
Professor Neumark is Howe Professor Emerita of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Emerita of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and a Special Research Scientist, Columbia University, New York, New York, from where she also received her Ph.D in chemistry in 1949. She was the first woman to hold a named Chair in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University.
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