End to the patent war between Rotolight and ARRI

The German ARRI has reached an agreement with Rotolight, in relation to the British company's CineSFX cinematographic special effects patent portfolio in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.

ARRI will no longer challenge the validity of Rotolight's patents and has withdrawn its Inter Partes Review in the United States. Simultaneously, Rotolight has withdrawn its lawsuit against ARRI before the North American patent court. In a joint statement, both companies assure that this agreement aims to "respect intellectual property and value fair competition."

Rod Aaron Gammons, CEO of Rotolight, highlighted that "Rotolight invests millions each year in research and development to offer its customers the latest in lighting technology and innovation. However, these investments can only be made knowing that those investments and the intellectual property behind them will be respected. Therefore, we are pleased to have reached an agreement with ARRI, and we will continue to take all necessary measures to protect our intellectual property from continued infringements. In this way, we will be able to continue investing in bringing industry-first innovations to the market. Any other company “The infringing party must now approach Rotolight directly to obtain a license agreement on reasonable commercial terms.”

Rotolight is a British family business founded in 2009, which designs innovative LED lighting products for the film/broadcast and photography industries. We can find its solutions in the production of feature films for Netflix, Amazon Studios or Sky or in television networks, such as BBC and ITV.

Manufactured in the UK, Rotolight products have pioneered numerous industry-first patented technologies, such as the CineSFX suite of user-customizable cinematic lighting effects, or the world's first electronic diffusion technology (SmartSoft).

As for ARRI, it was founded in Munich (Germany) in 1917 by August Arnold and Robert Richter, who produced professional film equipment, cameras and lighting. It is made up of the Camera Systems, Lighting and Rental business units, all dedicated to connecting creativity and future technologies for moving images. Its product portfolio includes digital cameras, lenses and a wide range of professional lighting solutions.