Super Vision International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUPVA), a leading manufacturer of fiber optic and LED lighting, announced this week that it has filed a law suit in Federal District Court in Orlando, Florida seeking past due royalties and damages in excess of $10.5 million against Color Kinetics, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts for past and current infringement violations of U.S. Patent #4,963,687 on “Variable Color Lighting System.”
The patent, developed by inventor Richard Belliveau, provides for broad coverage in its claims for patent in the use of networked, centrally controlled, addressable color changing lighting systems incorporating pulse width modulation and variable digital control circuitry which can vary the intensity of individual lamp elements to generate unlimited colors.
Color Kinetics was notified by the patent owner on several occasions in the past that the owner believed that Color Kinetics was infringing on its intellectual property rights. Upon examination of High End System’s patent, Super Vision believed utilization of this patent would be required in order to continue their development of color changing LED systems. Super Vision is now the owner of the “Variable Color Lighting System” patent by virtue of a recent technology purchase from High End Systems of Austin, Texas, including future licensing rights, rights to enforce against infringement, and entitlement to both past due and future royalties on the patent.