Five major retailers, including Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc, were sued on Tuesday by the University of California over what it called the “existential threat” when foreign manufacturers infringe schools’ patents.
Amazon, Walmart, Target Corp, Ikea AB and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc were accused of infringing four patents related to “filament” LED light bulbs, which use 90% less energy and last many years longer than traditional light bulbs.
These patents relate to what the university called the “reinvention of the light bulb” by researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara led by professor Shuji Nakamura, who won the 2014 Nobel prize for physics.