Samsung seeks U.S. import ban on Osram products

Samsung seeks U.S. import ban on Osram products
A Samsung unit is raising the ante in a patent dispute with a German rival over energy-saving LED lighting amid intensifying legal disputes among global companies jockeying for supremacy in key consumer technologies.

Samsung LED Co. said Sunday that it asked the United States International Trade Commission on Friday to bar products of Osram GmbH and two units from entering the U.S.

Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung LED said it also filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware alleging infringement of its LED patents, seeking unspecified damages.

Samsung LED is targeting Osram, Osram Opto Semiconductors and Osram Sylvania Inc. in the actions. Munich-based Osram GmbH is a unit of German industrial engineering giant Siemens AG. Osram Sylvania is Osram’s North American operation based in Danvers, Mass.

Last month, Samsung LED sued Osram Korea Co. and two local companies that sell its products in South Korea in retaliation for what is said were suits by Osram at the USITC, in the Delaware court and in Germany.

"Samsung LED intends to vigorously enforce its intellectual property rights, and these lawsuits reflect Samsung LED’s commitment to that enforcement," the company said in a release.

"Osram is well prepared regarding possible actions by Samsung," said Stefan Schmidt, Osram’s head of media relations.

Samsung LED is alleging infringement of eight patents covering what it calls "core" LED technologies used in products such as lighting, automobiles, projectors, mobile phone screens and TVs.

Such complaints and lawsuits over patents are common in the global technology industry and seldom lead to market disruptions as disputes could take years to resolve and typically end with payments of licensing fees rather than import bans.