A Texas jury on November 5 awarded Chinese company Jiaxing Super Lighting Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. (嘉兴山蒲照明电器有限公司) nearly $14.2 million in damages after finding that rival Chinese lighting company CH Lighting willfully infringed three of its US patents for LED tubes.

The jury rejected arguments that parts of two patents are invalid, and found CH Lighting and Ruising’s infringement was willful. Under the theory of willful infringement, a court may increase “damages up to three times the amount found or assessed.”

Jiaxing Super Lighting Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. together with its U.S. affiliate, Obert, Inc. filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas against two lighting companies: CH Lighting Technology Co., Ltd. (晨辉光宝科技有限公司) and Shaoxing Ruising Lighting Co., Ltd. (绍兴瑞新照明有限公司), and also against a distributor of the accused lighting products named Elliott Electronic Supply.

In the lawsuit, Super Lighting alleges that CH, Ruising, and Elliott are making, using, importing, selling, and/or offering for sale numerous LED linear tube lamps that infringe four of Super Lighting’s patents that cover LED tube structure, package, and driver technology: U.S. Pat. Nos. 10,426,003; 10,295,125; 10,342,078; and 10,352,540. Super Lighting seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief against all three defendants. The case is 6:20-cv-00018-ADA.

Source: China IP Today