Invalidity dossier
US 5695269
Added 9/23/2026, 9:55:39 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US5695269A
Title: Multi-color display lighting by LED
Patent number: US5695269A
Application number: US08/594,062
Inventors: Raymond Lippmann; Michael John Schnars; James Edward Nelson; Mark James Miller
Original assignee: Delco Electronics LLC (later assignment recorded to Delphi Technologies Inc., 2005-09-30)
Filing/priority date: 1996-01-29
Publication (grant) date: 1997-12-09
Legal status as listed: Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration 2016-01-29 (source notes status is an assumption, not a legal conclusion)
Purpose. The patent addresses backlighting for automotive displays, especially LCDs, which need bright sources because LCD polarization blocks much light and a dark filter is required for a dark dead-front appearance in sunlight. Conventional large sources waste power, generate heat in the confined instrument cluster, and force package depth. The invention aims at thinner, lower-power packages carrying more tell-tales and enunciators, using LEDs, which are small, low-power, and available in colors such as amber and red suited to multi-color displays.
Plain-language scope. A rectangular plastic light pipe with narrow side edges is edge-lit by first-color LEDs at one or two opposed edges. Abraded or diffusing top/bottom features scatter a small percentage of light out. A second-color source uses an elongated second light pipe along an edge perpendicular to the first source, with diffusing features adjacent second (color-filtered) areas to inject light into the main pipe. Non-source edges are painted white or surrounded by white diffusing material; the bottom may be mirrored or backed by a white scattering surface. Prismatic/grooved sheets above the pipe (grooves facing away, second sheet rotated 90°) redirect light toward the viewer's eyebox. Because second-color light enters transverse to the first sheet's grooves, it illuminates mainly local areas near its introduction; alternatively, both colors may enter the same edge, leaving the color filter as the sole differentiator.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5695269](/patent/US5695269)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: the full claim set and claim language; the complete specification and omitted text; the drawings' details (FIGS. 1–3 are only partly described); any prior-art references or comparison; and any litigation, validity, or ownership conclusions beyond the recorded assignments shown.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:33:57 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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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.