A Granny is suing big electronic companies for allegedly violating her patent. Sony and 29 other giants such as LG Eletronics, Hitachi, Sharp, Toshiba, Nokia are being sued by this (apparently) sweet lady on the picture. “The action alleges that major electronics manufacturers in Asia and Europe have violated her patent for producing light emitting diodes and laser diodes in products, such as video players using Sony’s Blu-ray format, Motorola Razr phones and Hitachi camcorders.” /PRNewswire/

The “sweet” lady is Columbia University Professor Emeritus Gertrude Neumark Rothschild (yep, impressive title, huh?). Of course you don’t get to be a “Professor Emeritus” for nothing! You need to have some brains and that’s what she is using to cash in on this lawsuit. If she is able to prove that all those companies are infringing her LED patent she will probably receive some ridiculous amount of money! Either that or she wants the U.S. government to ban those companies’ imports to the U.S –LOL! Very unlikely! I would bet on the cash!–. A lot of companies use LEDs and laser diodes for a variety of reasons–Sony uses blue laser diodes in its Blu-ray players, for example, and LEDs are used as light sources in TV and notebook computer screens.

Wait a minute! This is not Dr. Rothchild’s first time suing big companies. Last week she settled with Philips Lumileds and in 2006 she settled with Gosei Co. Ltd. and Toyoda Gosei North America Corporation for the same LED technology on very similar cases. Guess what? The terms were “undisclosed”, which means a lot of cash!

Albert Jacobs, Jr., Esq. and Daniel Ladow, Esq., partners at Dreier LLP in the Intellectual Property Department, are representing the “Sweet” lady and this is their take on it: “Dr. Rothschild made a seminal breakthrough in the production of the blue and ultraviolet LEDs that are essential to a wide variety of consumer electronics products today,” Mr. Jacobs stated. “She richly deserves both scientific as well as commercial recognition for her work.”

The ITC will make a final determination in the investigation as soon as they can but within 45 days after institution of the investigation, the ITC will set a date for completing the investigation.

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