• 36% surge in Asian companies licensing Philips Lighting patents
• World’s premier LED licensing program now has 700 members

Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LIGHT), a global leader in lighting, today announced that it had signed up its 700th member for its EnabLED Licensing Program for LED luminaires and retrofit bulbs and that 100 new members have joined in the last nine months. The program, which gives companies a license and support to use its patented innovations, saw a 36% growth in member companies from Asia in the same period. 

The success of EnabLED is recognized across the globe and the latest 100 new members represent a broad mix of large, small and medium sized companies, amongst others active in retrofit bulbs and private label retail. The surge in membership from Asia reflects a maturing of the LED market and increasing willingness of companies in developing markets to respect and take advantage of patented technology.

Philips Lighting believes that open innovation will help the industry to prosper and by sharing its IP through its EnabLED Licensing Program, it encourages innovation and growth in the LED market. Licensees are given access to a wide range of basic LED control and system-level technologies available for use in their branded LED-based luminaires and retrofit bulbs for general illumination, architectural, entertainment and theatrical markets. Of the 700 partners in the program, 20% actively used the EnabLED member logo to communicate their membership to their prospects. 

Frank Bistervels, Vice President Intellectual Property for Philips Lighting, said, “The growth in membership illustrates a growing appreciation of our world-leading patented innovations that benefit the industry but most of all our members and their customers. The 36% uptick in members from Asia underlines an increasing shift in the industry towards LED lighting based upon proven and patented technology, and is consistent with a market beginning to mature.”

Todd Chien, General Manager of Colorbeam Co. Ltd., headquartered in Taiwan, said, “We are honored to be the 700th member in the EnabLED program, which we see as beneficial for the lighting industry, and we trust that Philips Lighting and its existing and new licensees will continue to communicate and share expertise to elevate the technology and quality of LED lighting.”  

Growing the market

Since 2008, EnabLED has encouraged innovation and fostered industry growth. Philips Lighting is committed to ensuring the program is fair and reasonable to all. The company has pioneered many of the key breakthroughs in lighting over the past 125 years and has led the development of the LED industry over the past 20 years. Few companies can match its level of R&D investment. Philips Lighting’s LED patents include inventions such as warm dimming, high color rendering white, tunable white, color illumination and efficient light mixing and distribution.

The signing of the 700th licensee follows earlier agreements between Philips Lighting and other companies such as Acuity Brands, Cooper, Cree, Dextra, Dialight, Disano, Hubbell, iGuzzini, Kingsun, Martin, Neo-Neon, Osram, Paulmann, Trilux and Zumtobel. Additional information is available at www.philips.com/enabled. 

Notes to Editors

An infographic and the EnabLED logo can be downloaded from the Philips Lighting newsroom at http://www.newsroom.lighting.philips.com