While browsing Orbitec web pages I found a link to this company: http://www.planet-llc.com/pages/sunbow/pages/apollo.htm

@Tatu, IIRC Planet is a spin off of Orbitec.

Orbitec’s partner is claimed to be an established Aquarium company… we shall see?

Tatu – nice find. It would make sense that that is the company Orbitec is referring to since (in fact it seems odd that it would not be the company). But, as Eric pointed out, they are representing its an established company. Also, according to the Wayback Machine (archive.org), that website was created in Jan 2008, and has not been updated once since it was created, which means they could have changed directions since that website was put up, and just haven’t taken the link down. It will be interesting to see what happens, but it certainly does appear that someone will be producing new LED fixtures in the not so distant future, and offering a trade-in program for Solaris owners, which is great news for those who are currently without support for their less-than-reliable Solaris fixtures.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of PFO. There are several forms of bankruptcy, one of them is reorganization. PFO being private, its anyones guess.

If the bankruptcy was of the reorganization variety, I would guess the case would have been stayed instead of dismissed, but you are right that there is no way to know for sure based on whats available.

The fact that this new company is suggesting that they will offer Solaris trade-ins is huge for those of us that have them. My H series Solaris, which I still have, had a few problems with the power supply going out and several of the LEDs going out, but I have not had any issues with my I series. Never-the-less, I am not comfortable having this I series as my only light source and not having any technical or material support for it, should something go wrong.

I am sold on LED lighting. Not that it is the best or that it is 100% ready for prime time, but because of the low power consumption, low heat radiation, color control, etc that comes with these fixtures. I do like the concept of spotlight LED use. I may look into trying one or two in my tank for certain areas where I would like more light. Like with all new technologies, those that adopt early, pay dearly. I have paid dearly. I lost a lot of time, corals, and $$ using the H series. Who knows what I will pay for using the I series, but it’s all part of the process of developing and mainstreaming technologies.

Jim, Nice to see you on GBD. I think your outlook on the situation is right on. You can sell that H series for someone else to use as trade in, and buy a couple spotlights, now that will be sweet.

to bad such a great company isn’t around anymore=/

To bad this ended this way. I would have liked to see this play out just to see if Orbitec really had a case or if they were just trying to get rid of the competition.

Orbitech very obviously had a case it was PFO that was grasping at straws.. Eric and Mike your coverage of this story has been fantastic. GBD is the #1 reef blog…

Now that it is over, I’ll say what I think. Orbitec probably had the better argument for infringement — I’d say 70/30, Orbitec would have won that issue. However, I think that PFO also had some pretty strong prior art for invalidity, and would have had a good chance of invalidating the patent, money permitting. I’ll try to do a full write-up of my thoughts on the case at some point.

I was wondering what your “non-impartial” opinion was Mike lol.

to Jglackin : good points. I know from your 170 thread that you’ve had that light for quite some time and got on the LED’s pretty early. Someone’s got to!

It will be interesting to see what will happen when the big lighting manufacturers start to mass produce LED lighting systems as many of them will probably be usable as an aquarium lighting. Will Orbitec try to defend their patent against, say, Osram?

It might happen sooner than later, at least here in EU: http://www.osram.com/osram_com/News/General_Interest_Press/2008/081209_OSRAM_EU_Phase_Out_QAs.jsp

Did anyone seem to notice that the last name of the District Judge and one of the patent holders is the same?

I think some sort of investigation should be initiated.

[...] Out: Aquarium-specific LEDs that promote the growth of marine organisms… [...]

My GFI short circuted my Solaris I5. Only one bank of LED’s is still fullying functioning. The other two only work on factory default but won’t turn themselves on and off.

I bought this unit end of November, 2008.

So, now what do I do to repair this catastrophe?

@eileen, we have no experience with Solaris modifications or repairs. Your best bet is to post in major forums and see what solutions the DIY crowd has come up with. Hopefully it is just a power supply issue, in which case affordable replacements can be found.

ANy more news on this yet? I have tried contacting Orbitec and received one response about their “SO CALLED” product.

I jsut wanted to see if anyone had anymore news about a release date.