Liown Receives Favorable Preliminary Findings Against Luminara in Patent Review

Minneapolis, MN – June 20, 2016. PRNewswire -Liown Electronics Co. Ltd, one of the world’s largest suppliers of light-emitting diode (LED) flameless candles and lighting, today announced that the United States Patent Office’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) has issued preliminary findings that several of Luminara’s patents relating to flameless candle technologies are likely invalid.

“From the start of our patent disputes with Luminara, we have been committed to revealing the truth about our technologies and our role as the leading innovator in the flameless candle industry,” said Johnny Yang, Liown CEO. “These rulings from the PTAB are very promising and we look forward to resolving, once and for all, our disputes with Luminara.”

The PTAB found that 30 patent claims Luminara has asserted against Liown in litigation are likely invalid, including all of the asserted claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,696,166.  The PTAB found the asserted claims of the ‘166 likely invalid for not just one reason, but for multiple reasons. The so-called ‘166 patent was the basis of a preliminary injunction initially obtained by Luminara in 2015.

The PTABs decisions on the IPRs come on the heels of Luminara’s injunction against Liown being vacated in December 2015 by an appeals court less than 24 hours after it conducted oral argument. In overturning the injunction, the appeals court, like the PTAB, found a “substantial question of validity” with the ‘166 patent.

The initial determinations are telling; publicly-available PTAB statistics show that claims receiving such initial invalidity determinations are almost always terminated.