Super Lighting Wins First Round in Patent Fight Against Maxlite

Jiaxing Super Lighting Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. and its affiliate Obert, Inc. (collectively “Super Lighting”) filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against MaxLite, Inc. on May 8, 2019 for infringing six of Super Lighting’s U.S. patents, including Pat. Nos. 9,807,826; 9,723,662; 9,897,265; 9,689,536; 9,841,174; and 10,208,897 (see chart below). In response, MaxLite (whose product providers are CH Lighting Technology Co., Ltd. and Ruising Lighting) petitioned for Inter Partes Reviews (IPR) with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on three of the six patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,897,265; 9,723,662; and 9,807,826) seeking to invalidate these patents. Furthermore, MaxLite filed a motion to stay the lawsuit in the District Court.

Though MaxLite represented its IPRs would be successful, the USPTO denied institution of IPR of the ‘662 and ‘826 patents (IPR2020-00181) (IPR2020-00208), again confirming the validity of Super Lighting’s patents. And the District Court also denied MaxLite’s motion to stay the patent infringement lawsuit. The lawsuit will thus continue with all six patents-in-suit.

Accordingly, MaxLite’s IPRs have no actual impact on the scope of the case against it, as shown below:

Super Lighting is pleased with the USPTO’s decisions rendered on May 26 and June 24 once again confirming that Super Lighting’s patents are valid and enforceable. This further strengthens Super Lighting’s confidence that the patents it makes available in its licensing program are of a very high quality. In order to create a fair and competitive market and to protect the interests of our customers and strategic partners, Super Lighting will continue patent enforcement and licensing efforts to prevent manufacturers, distributors, and retailers from selling infringing products.

*Disclaimer: The aforementioned description is intended to be a simple explanation for general readers’ understanding and is for reference only. The scope of Super Lighting’s patents is set forth in the actual claims of its issued patents.