A group of manufacturers known as the LED Alliance is seeking examples of prior art to help in its efforts to overcome what it sees as Color Kinetics' attempts to monopolize LED lighting. In the month or so since the LDI exhibition in Las Vegas, a group called the LED Alliance has gained momentum in its efforts to undermine the intellectual property portfolio owned by Color Kinetics. More a disparate group of interested companies than a separate entity, the Alliance has issued a Call for Prior Art which has already gathered evidence of the use of LEDs in color-mixing applications dating back many years. The simple explanation of the LED Alliance's position goes as follows: when Color Kinetics filed its key patents, particularly its first one (US patent number 6,016,038, filed in August 1997 and granted in January 1990), techniques such as color mixing with LEDs were well known, as was pulse-width modulation (PWM). The Alliance contends that many of the claims in Color Kinetics' patents lack the "novel and inventive step" essential to qualify for patent protection. Full article here.