Professor Settles with Mitsubishi in LED/LD Patent Dispute

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
Professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild has reached a settlement with Mitsubishi
Corp. regarding her assertion that the company and dozens of other major
electronics manufacturers in Asia and Europe violated her patents for producing
light emitting diodes and laser diodes in products, such as video players that
are used for Sony's Blu-ray format, Motorola Razr phones and Hitachi camcorders,
backlighting for computers, as well as street lighting and optical storage of
information.

Mitsubishi is the latest company to reach a global settlement with Rothschild, a
professor emeritus at Columbia University. Others who have settled include BenQ,
Dalien Lumei, Epistar Corp., FOREPI, Guangzhou Hongli, Hitachi, Hugo Optotech,
LG, Motorola, Pioneer Corp., Samsung Electro Mechanics, Samsung Electronics,
Sanyo Electric, Sewa Electric, Sharp Corp., Shenzhen Unilight, Showa Denko, Sony
Corp., and Sony Ericcson. Earlier settlements were made with Nichia Chemical and
Koninklijke Philips Electronics, which included Philips Lumilid Lighting Co. and
Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd.

Terms of the Mitsubishi agreement are confidential, according to Rothschild's
attorney, Albert Jacobs Jr. of Troutman Sanders LLP. However, the aggregate
received from her settlements and licenses - which now have been concluded with
more than 40 companies - amounts to over $27 million, Jacobs said.

"Dr. Rothschild made a seminal breakthrough in the production of LEDs and LDs,
especially the blue, violet and ultraviolet LEDs that are essential to a wide
variety of consumer electronics products today," said Jacobs. "She richly
deserves both scientific as well as commercial recognition for her work."

Professor Rothschild, who is the sole owner of U.S. Patent Number 5,252,499, as
well as the recently expired `618 patent and foreign patents related thereto, is
currently Howe Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering at
Columbia. She conducted ground-breaking research in the 1980s and 1990s into the
electrical and optical properties of so-called wide band-gap semiconductors.
This research has proven pivotal in the development of short-wavelength emitting
(blue and violet) diodes that are now widely used in consumer electronics.

She was issued two U.S. patents in the early 1990s that cover methods of
producing wide band-gap semiconductors for LEDs and LDs. Such LEDs and LDs have
become increasingly popular in a variety of devices as a superior lighting
source because of their reduced power consumption, greater reliability,
longevity and greater storage capacity.

Recognized by the American Physical Society as a Notable Woman Physicist in
1998, Professor Rothschild was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical
Society in 1982.

Professor Rothschild began her research career in private industry, working with
Sylvania Research Laboratories in Bayside, N.Y., in the 1950s, and later at
Philips Laboratories in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. She joined the faculty at
Columbia University as a Professor of Materials Science in 1985. In 2008, she
was selected as a recipient of Barnard College's Distinguished Alumna Award. She
has published approximately 90 research articles and given 28 invited talks
since 1980.

Troutman Sanders LLP
Albert L. Jacobs Jr., 212-704-6086
Albert.Jacobs@troutmansanders.com

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