Amazon

A tiny company called Lexington Luminance is suing both Amazon and Google over a patent it claims is violated by the LEDs used in the companies' tablets.

Boston University this week filed its own LED patent lawsuit against Amazon over the LEDs used in its Kindle tablets.

Yesterday, Formosa Epitaxy, the company that makes the LEDs that Google uses in its Nexus 7 tablets, filed a lawsuit against Lexington Luminance to try to forestall an anticipated Lexington Luminance lawsuit against it.

Lexington Luminance sued Amazon and Google last November, claiming the devices use violate a patent held by Tien Yang Wang for minimizing defects in the manufacture of LEDs. It seeks damages and interest and an order to stop the companies from selling the products with the LEDs.

The company has no Web site and lists Wang's Lexington home as its corporate address in its complaints.

Boston University yesterday sued Amazon.com, charging the LEDs used in its Kindle tablets violate a patent the university holds on making the lights.

BU, which has already sued several LED manufacturers, says the lights infringe on work by Theodore Moustakas, a BU professor of electrical engineering and computer science, on "growing" LED components out of gallium nitride.

Xconomy seeks answers in the help wanteds for Amazon's local expansion.

The Globe reports that Amazon has agreed to start collecting Massachusetts sales tax on purchases made by Bay Staters starting in November, 2013.