Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Discount Multi-Color LED Dashboard Lighting Patent Licenses Available During SEMA

Multi-Color LED Dashboard Lighting Patent Formerly Licensed Only to Ford Now Available for General Licensing. Licenses will be available at special discounted rates during SEMA.

Hollywood, CA (PRWEB) November 3, 2009 -- The inventor of the patent on multi-color LED dashboard lighting, formerly licensed only to Ford for use in its Mustang, has announced that the patent is available for general licensing. U.S. Patent No. 5,975,728 for "Method and Apparatus for Providing User Selectable Multi-Color Automobile Instrument Panel Illumination" was granted to inventor/patent attorney Frank Weyer in 1999. Weyer sued Ford for patent infringement in late 2004 when Ford introduced its new retro-Mustang, which included a popular option called "MyColor" that allowed a user to change the color of the dashboard instrument lighting. The lawsuit quickly settled, with Ford taking a license to the patent. Since then, Weyer was not able to license his patent to any other automotive manufacturers. Now, however, the patent is once again available for general licensing.

"I'm happy to announce that as of November 3, 2009, which, coincidentally, is the opening of SEMA, I will be able to offer licenses to my multi-color LED dashboard lighting patent to companies other than Ford." Weyer said. "Ambient interior lighting has become a very popular automotive option. However, without a license to my dashboard lighting patent, automobile manufactures and aftermarket suppliers had to restrict the ambient lighting to interior spaces, such as door sills and cupholders. Now, with the availability of licenses to my patent, they will be able to offer ambient lighting for dashboard instruments as well."

Licenses will be available on a product by product basis based on a one-time payment. "Although it would probably be more lucrative for me to license the patent on a percentage-of-sales royalty basis, for both small and large businesses alike, a one-time payment per product model provides more certainty and is more convenient." The exact price for a license will depend on the size and type of manufacturer. "For a car manufacturer, licenses will be on the order of tens of thousands of dollars per car model. For an aftermarket manufacturer, licenses will be on the order of a few thousand dollars per licensed product line."
In recognition of SEMA, Weyer will offer special, reduced patent licensing fees until Nov. 8, 2009.

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[Via Legal / Law]

Posted by prolink at 12:45 AM

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