SmartCharge Bulb Innovator Vows to Do 'Everything Necessary’ to Protect His IP

TVL holds several U.S. patents and has pending applications on the technology and implementations using SmartCharge, including the core patent (8,907,523) it landed in December 2014, describing an “intuitive electric circuit.” As the technology reaches wider consumer distribution through the licensing deal with Feit, Suman vowed he will do all in his power to protect TVL’s IP against product infringers, starting with trying to raise retailer awareness to thwart cheap product knockoffs.

When the power goes out, “and the switch is dark, still you can turn on and off this light bulb from the same switch on the wall without making any change,” and that’s the “uniqueness” of the technology, said Suman. The lithium-ion battery that’s built into the bulb “provides light during the power outage,” but is also a power source for the “communications circuit” that’s also contained inside the bulb, he said.

After the communications circuit inside the bulb detects that “there’s no power from the grid, it starts sending a small signal from the bulb to the wiring in the home network,” that then loops back to the bulb with the voltage and impedance information needed for the bulb to know ehether the wall switch is in the on or off position, said Suman. At that point, “it doesn’t matter” whether power from the grid “is there or not,” he said.

In a power outage, the circuit inside the bulb does its communications work “every millisecond, so your naked eye will not see the difference,” he said. “If the light bulb was on” when the power went out, “it will remain on,” he said. “What you will see is a little dimming of the bulb” when it’s in battery-backup mode during a power outage, he said. On AC power, “we provide 600 lumens of full brightness, but when it goes on the battery mode, we provide 375 lumens, and that’s so the battery can last for four hours,” he said. “But there’s no flicker or anything” when the bulb converts to battery backup from AC power, he said. The technology “will support any number” of bulbs on the same wall switch in a room, he said.

The licensing agreement with Feit is a “multiyear” deal under which the manufacturer of lighting products ships its consumer retail accounts a battery-backup bulb it offers as one SKU under its multiproduct IntelliBulb line, said Suman. It’s marketed in packaging that lists TVL’s core patent on the box, said Suman. He won’t discuss contract terms but said they stipulate that Feit will pay TVL a customary minimum and per-unit royalty on the shipments of its battery-backup bulbs.

As TVL seeks “different verticals” outside consumer retail in which to adapt and deploy the SmartCharge technology, “we can do it ourselves or find the right partners for those markets,” said Suman. In the hospitality industry, for example, TVL is testing a “pilot” to install SmartCharge battery-backup lights in the bathroom fixtures of one of Marriott’s “low-end” hotel chains, which typically don’t have backup generator power, he said. Marriott wants to integrate the SmartCharge lighting technology in a bathroom fixture rather than in a standard desk or nightstand lamp for fear that guests would easily remove the bulbs and walk off with them when they check out just as they do with soap and shampoo, he said.

Suman is mindful of the IP hurdles confronting TVL as it scores commercial successes with SmartCharge technology, he said. That online and physical retail are markets in which there are many knockoffs is “a very challenging thing,” said Suman. “You have a patent, maybe a portfolio of patents, but how do you protect yourself once your product goes into the market?” Enforcing one’s patents “is a very expensive process,” he said.

Suman views retailer “education” as “the first aspect of protecting yourself,” he said. “Let the retailer and other stakeholders know that you were the one who brought this product to the market, you have worked hard enough over time, you did all the steps you need to take.” A second measure is to use legal remedies to go after those “who have copied the product and are going head to head against you and may do some damage in the marketplace,” he said.

Any internet search of battery-backup bulbs in the U.S. will yield the names of “at least four or five different companies” that market “similar product,” said Suman. TVL is in “active” discussions with one such company, Sengled, “about our patent, and what not,” he said. Sengled is the OEM from which TVL used to source its SmartCharge bulbs, he said. “They don’t make it for me” anymore, “but they have the similar product,” he said. “That’s a big issue for us.” TVL is going after Sengled not only for patent infringement but also for breaching its agreement with TVL when it was the company’s OEM supplier, he said. Talks with Sengled are “pretty far along,” he said. Sengled representatives couldn’t be reached.

Though TVL hasn’t filed a patent complaint against anyone in the courts, the company has the legal and financial resources -- and the mental fortitude -- to protect its IP, said Suman. “The first patent I filed in 2010 and did the prototype and did the Kickstarter in 2013, and now I’m here, so I’m very dedicated,” he said. “Whatever it will take to protect our IP and the market and also our partners -- people like Feit and whoever comes in -- to protect them, I will do everything that’s necessary.”