Invalidity dossier
US 4573766
Added 9/23/2026, 1:22:49 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 4,573,766 A
Title: LED Staggered Back Lighting Panel for LCD Module
Patent number: US 4,573,766 A
Application number: US06/562,855
Inventors: Frederick M. Bournay, Jr.; Joel F. Giurtino
Original assignee / current assignee (as listed): Cordis Corp
Filing date / priority date: 1983-12-19
Grant/publication date: 1986-03-04
Legal status as listed: Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration 2003-12-19
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4573766/en
Purpose
The patent describes backlighting a visual display device, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) module, using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) rather than an electroluminescent panel. The stated aim is lower power consumption: LEDs are direct-current powered and avoid the high alternating-current supply, or DC-to-AC conversion circuitry, that electroluminescent panels require. Power may be reduced further by adjusting the duty cycle of the direct current supplied to the LEDs to a frequency not detectable by the human eye.
Plain-language scope
The claimed subject matter, as described, is a thin, single-layer backlighting panel: a thin rectangular piece of light-transmitting plastic with a front surface, a back surface, and opposite elongate edges. Light-emitting means—a plurality of LEDs—sit along and extend into two opposite edges. The LEDs along one edge are staggered or offset relative to those along the opposite edge. A light-diffusing surface on at least the front flat surface spreads light to backlight the display. The text also describes a method: forming the diffusing surface on the panel's front surface, directing LED light into the opposite edges, and positioning the LEDs on one edge staggered or offset from those on the opposite edge. Figures show an LCD module and panel, including LEDs inserted into holes in a side edge.
What the excerpt does not establish
It does not provide the full claims, full description, or drawing contents; does not establish the accuracy of the listed legal status, assignee, or priority date; and does not address litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or prior-art conclusions. The nine U.S. patents cited are merely summarized as background in the excerpt.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:53:09 PM
Cases on file (0)
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Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.