LED cross-license agreement concluded

LED luminaire manufacturers can now use key components from Osram without having to pay license fees to Philips because Osram has acquired special rights from Philips. Luminaire manufacturers are therefore released from the costs resulting from the LED luminaire license program recently published by Philips.

The special rights relate not only to patents held by Philips but also to patents held by Color Kinetics and TIR Systems which were acquired by Philips last year. The compensatory payment - which both parties have agreed not to divulge - will be partially offset by Osram by selling rights to its own patents.

"Thanks to this agreement, Osram key components provide our customers with unique opportunities. It stimulates new possibilities for the lighting market and, like Philips, we will accelerate  the development of this market", said Martin Goetzeler, CEO of Osram. The LED components are based to an extent on chips fabricated in Osram's factories in Regensburg and Penang/Malaysia, and this is an area in which Osram itself has a patent portfolio.