Yesterday, Lighting Defense Group LLC, filed suit against Shanghai Sansi Electronic Engineering Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Sansi) claiming patent infringement. LDG was started by Daniel Spiro who your humble editor has known for over 20 years. I spoke to him yesterday in preparation for this article.
According to the complaint, LDG’s patent portfolio encompasses innovative heat management technology for high efficiency lighting products, including various aspects and improvements relating to LED lighting technology. This technology improves the efficiency of lighting through effective heat dispersion, in turn allowing the use of more efficient, longer lasting, and high-power LED lighting products and solutions.
As I read the suit, LDG first reached out to Shanghai Sansi in June 2020 to negotiate a patent license with no success. The patent dispute had been brewing for about a year when LDG decided to file a complaint with Amazon about Shanghai Sansi allegedly selling LED products in violation of LDG’s patents. Shanghai Sansi products were de-listed by Amazon in June 2021.
In response to the de-listing, Sansi LED Lighting, Inc., a US-based affiliate of Shanghai Sansi, filed a complaint against LDG seeking a declaration that LDG’s US Patent No. 8,939,608 was not infringed and/or is invalid. This was an aggressive move. Amazon re-listed all of the Sansi LED lighting products that it had previously de-listed, pending the outcome of the declaratory judgment action filed by Sansi LED Lighting (in June 2021).
Sansi has been represented by lawyers from Orrick, a global law firm focused on the technology and innovation sectors, and by Chinese lawyers, Bishou Chen and Xiaofei Xue.
Earlier this year LDG filed a motion to dismiss, and Judge Dominic Lanza issued a “tentative ruling” granting LDG’s motion to dismiss the tort-based claims. Apparently anticipating defeat, Sansi filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the case on June 1, 2022.
On June 27, 2022, LDG again filed a complaint with Amazon.com asserting claim 15 of the ʼ608 patent as to certain Sansi LED lighting products offered on Amazon.com. Because the Amazon.com patent evaluation process limits a party to the assertion of one claim from one patent, LDG filed a new district court lawsuit to seek redress for Sansi’s infringement of three other patents: US Patent Nos. 8,256,923; 9,163,807; and the 7,874,700.
Sansi has spent two years fighting over a single patent, and now we learn that LDG has three more patents which they believe Sansi violates. It appears that Shanghai Sansi engaged litigation counsel without significant LED litigation experience. One wonders whether that had an effect on their results in the prior case (or lack thereof.)
This is great for the lawyers!
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