Invalidation Proceedings and Administrative Litigation on Chinese Patent for Red Phosphor Finally Concluded

— Validity of All Claims of the Patent Upheld Following the Supreme People’s Court's Judgement and the Proceedings of the Remanded Case —

2026.05.13

NIMS (National Institute for Materials Science)

The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS; Location: Tsukuba, Ibaraki; President: Kazuhiro Hono) hereby announces that with regard to the Chinese patent held by NIMS (No. 200580005112.5; title of invention: "Light emitting device and lighting apparatus"[1]), the invalidation proceedings instituted by Jiangsu Bree Optronics Co., Ltd. (Bree) and the subsequent administrative litigation have been concluded, which resulted in finally upholding the validity of all claims of the patent.

Background

This patent relates to a light emitting device and lighting apparatus using nitride-type red phosphor known as CASN, SCASN, or 1113 phosphor.[2] NIMS has been carrying out licensing activities with this patent serving as a foundation for the activities.
Starting from 2019, Bree instituted invalidation proceedings regarding this patent several times. In 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) rendered a ruling to partially invalidate the patent.

Developments in litigation

In response, NIMS filed administrative litigation to seek rescission of the CNIPA ruling, while Bree also filed litigation against that ruling.
The court of first instance (Beijing Intellectual Property Court) upheld the CNIPA ruling both for the claims invalidated and the claims declared valid, dismissing the requests for rescission from both parties.
On December 25, 2025, the court of second instance (Supreme People’s Court) rescinded the CNIPA ruling with regard to the invalidated claims and remanded the case to the CNIPA, while dismissing Bree's allegation of the invalidation of other claims and maintaining their validity.
In the proceedings of the remanded case, Bree withdrew the request for invalidation, and finally, the validity of all claims of this patent was upheld as of April 2, 2026.

Significance of this case

This is a case in which the validity of a patent has been finally upheld through the invalidation proceedings and administrative litigation that took a long time to end.
Proper protection of intellectual property rights

In this case, a patent was once declared partially invalid by an administrative ruling but then the ruling was reviewed and the validity of the patent was finally upheld by the court. This evidences the importance of proper evaluation and protection of intellectual property rights.

Verification for the foundation for licensing activities

This event, in which NIMS made continued efforts to deal with an invalidity challenge and finally succeeded in maintaining the validity of its patent, verifies the legitimacy of the licensing activities that NIMS has carried out and will lead to increasing the reliability of its activities.

Practice in responding to cross-border IP disputes

Through the series of procedures it followed in China, NIMS has presented its firm stance to counter challenges to the validity of its intellectual property rights as a national research and development agency.

Future action

NIMS will continue to manage and utilize our intellectual property rights appropriately and contribute to the fair and sound development of industry. Going forward as well, NIMS will not overlook anything but properly deal with unreasonable invalidity challenges to our intellectual property rights or any other action that could affect our rights.

Taking this opportunity, NIMS expresses our gratitude to Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation for its cooperation in responding to this case.

Notes
  • [1] In addition to China, this patent is or was registered in Japan, the United States, Korea, Taiwan, and Germany.
  • [2] CASN, SCASN, or 1113 phosphor is a phosphor whose general formula is CaAlSiN3:Eu, (Sr,Ca)AlSiN3:Eu, etc.

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Contact information

Regarding this article

Tamaki Shimura
Intellectual Property Office
External Collaboration Division
National Institute for Materials Science
E-Mail: pat01=nims.go.jp (Please change "=" to "@")
TEL: +81-29-859-2102
FAX: +81-29-859-2500

Media Inquiries

Public Relations Office
Division of International Collaborations and Public Relations
National Institute for Materials Science
1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan
E-Mail: pressrelease=ml.nims.go.jp (Please change "=" to "@")
TEL: +81-29-859-2026
FAX: +81-29-859-2017

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