With the shuttering of PFO and their subsequent bankrupcy, the PFO patent lawsuit has now come to a grinding halt. The case hasn’t been officially dismissed by a court judge but given all the facts, this outcome is all but inevitable. This is bad news for aquarists because not only did Orbitec succeed in pushing out the #1 LED light manufacturer, but the hobby/industry didn’t get it’s chance to refute the claims of the over reaching LED patent. With the patent claims neither rejected or upheld, it is very likely that the legal sharks at Orbitec will be chomping at the bit to take someone down in court over the violation of their patent. This first battle may have been lost but the war is far from over. A quick search of LED stories here at Reef Buidlers alone reveals a deluge of new LED based products are now entering the aquarium market from all different angles. Orbitec may be able to hold back a trickle of products but with all the LED light manufacturers working to produce products that circumvent the claims of the LED patent, once the floodgates open up there will be nothing they can do to further prevent the advancement of aquarium LED lighting.
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