The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has banned importation into the US of certain LEDs from Taiwanese company Epistar because they infringe a patent held by European manufacturer Philips. 

Philips also has a pending action in the US District Court for the Northern District of California asserting its patent rights against Epistar and seeking damages and an injunction.

The ITC exclusion order prohibits the importation of Epistar's MB, OMA and GB LEDs in bare format, packaged and boards with arrays of the LEDs.

Philips has vowed to pursue action against any firm selling or using the Epistar products to make other goods, whether they are aware of the patent or not.

During the ITC investigation, Epistar was required to disclose all its currently available aluminium indium gallium phosphide LED and next-generation products. These were all found to infringe the patent, according to Philips.