Future of Lighting Plays Out in Iowa Town, Global Courts

Pocahontas, Iowa, population about 1,700, is on the cutting edge of a tech revolution. It replaced all 280 of its street lamps with semiconductors that convert electricity into light.

The old yellowish lamps now shine a brighter white and use about half the electricity, which should let the $190,000 investment pay off within four years, City Administrator Robert Donahoo said in an interview.

Pocahontas is on the vanguard of a transformation in lighting as incandescent bulbs, fluorescent tubes, high-pressure sodium lights, and even the backlighting of some television sets are gradually replaced by light-emitting diodes. Phone and computer screens, Audi AG’s “eyebrow” headlights, and traffic signals all use LEDs.

It’s become a gold rush for LED makers. It has also spawned patent lawsuits around the globe over inventions that make lights brighter and more economical. In the U.S., patent- infringement suits involving LED technology have been filed in Connecticut over custom headlights, in Florida over marine lighting, and in North Carolina over motorcycle accessories.

“LEDs are transforming the whole business model for lighting from one that’s based on replacement to one that’s based on installation,” said Eric Bloom, a London-based senior analyst for Pike Research specializing in smart building technologies.

Because LED lighting can last for 30 years, “getting in at the get-go is absolutely crucial for the lighting market of the future,” he said.

The largest battle pits Siemens AG (SIE)’s Osram unit against Korean electronics makers LG Electronics Inc. (066570) and Samsung Electronics Co. Each is trying to block the other from bringing their LEDs into the U.S. through four trials in Washington that began April 26. Lawsuits also are pending in Germany, Korea, Japan and China.

The contested technology among the three also includes LEDs that are used in televisions to create the light for liquid crystal displays. They reduce power consumption, improve longevity and enable TVs to be as thin as a tablet computer.

“These are new markets, new products and a lot of money is on the line,” said David Radulescu, a patent lawyer with Quinn Emanuel in New York who has represented LED companies for more than a decade. “Companies want to protect their investments and their market.”

Another case, at the U.S. International Trade Commission, was filed by Litepanels Inc., a California-based unit of British broadcast-equipment maker Vitec Group Inc. that made the lighting for the press briefing rooms at the White House and Pentagon. It’s trying to keep Chinese competitors out of the U.S. market.

“As the popularity and goodwill associated with Litepanels-branded lighting systems has grown, so too has the number of foreign and U.S.-based operations that try to capitalize on Litepanels’ investments,” the company, which won a 2009 Emmy award for engineering, said in the ITC complaint. A trial is scheduled for June in Washington.

The market for traditional home lighting, currently about $12 billion a year, is projected to fall to about $5 billion as LED lights can last for decades. They’re expected to replace incandescent bulbs, which are being phased out in most developed countries, and compact fluorescent bulbs that have environmental concerns, Bloom said.