According to OSRAM AG, the company and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. have reached an agreement to settle all patent suits between them worldwide. The patent suits have been filed in various countries amongst others Germany, South Korea and in the United States of America. The parties will dismiss all suits as expeditiously as possible, with a settlement consequently expected to be finalized by the end of August, 2012. As part of the settlement, the parties have reached license agreements for their respective LED patent portfolios. The parties have also signed a separate memorandum of understanding to explore the possibilities of jointly developing future LED-based products.

“We are glad to enter with Samsung in a new area of partnership-based competition. We respect the intellectual property rights of other companies and it is our ongoing policy to reach license agreements with other manufacturers of LED products. Along these lines, we appreciate this out-of-court settlement with Samsung,” said Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of OSRAM AG.

 “With the patent suits now behind us, we look forward to building a strategic relationship with OSRAM on a number of different fronts. There is a great deal of respect and also competition between the two companies. We believe the two companies now have an opportunity to significantly contribute to the LED industry and offer better products to our customers,” said Namseong Cho, Executive VP and General Manager of Samsung Electronics’ LED Business.