In lawsuits, BU charges companies have some gallium

Boston University yesterday sued companies in the US and Taiwan that make and sell LED lights it says infringes on a patent it holds.

In two lawsuits filed in US District Court in Boston, BU accuses the companies of offering products that use the same techniques protected under its 1995 patent for highly insulating monocrystalline gallium nitride thin films, which is based on work by Theodore Moustakas, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. The patent describes a method for "growing" very thin crystal films that can be used in making LEDs.

BU is seeking an end to the companies' sales, all the money they've ever made from the sales and damages.