X-bit labs

Sandisk Sues Flash Memory Suppliers for Patent Infringement.

Category: Memory

by Anton Shilov

[ 10/31/2007 | 09:49 PM ]

Sandisk Corp., a leading manufacturer of flash memory-based products has filed lawsuits against 25 makers of flash-powered products accusing them in patent infringements. The company wants Western District of Wisconsin and the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban import of products from those 25 memory makers into the

“These actions demonstrate SanDisk’s long-term commitment to enforcing its patents, both to protect our investment in research and development by obtaining a fair return on that investment, and out of fairness to third-parties that participate in our patent licensing program,” said E. Earle Thompson, chief intellectual property counsel at SanDisk.

The list of companies accused of infringing various SanDisk system-level patents include such companies as ACP-EP Memory, A-Data, Apacer, Behavior Computer (d/b/a Emprex), Buffalo, Chipsbank, Corsair Memory, Dane-Elec, Edge, Imation/Memorex, Interactive Media (d/b/aKanguru), Kaser, Kingston, LG Electronics, Phison Electronics, PNY, PQI, Silicon Motion, Skymedi, Transcend, TSR (d/b/a T.One), USBest, Verbatim, Welldone Company and Zotek/Zodata (d/b/a Huke).

Sandisk claims the companies, which manufacture, sell and import USB flash drives, CompactFlash cards, multimedia cards, MP3/media players and/or other removable flash storage products, infringe its patents and therefore Sandisk is seeking damages and a permanent injunction in the federal court actions, as well as a permanent exclusion order from the ITC banning importation of the products into the United States.

“Our goal is to resolve these matters by offering the defendants the opportunity to participate in our patent licensing program for card and system technology. Otherwise, we will aggressively pursue these actions, seeking a prompt judicial resolution awarding damages, obtaining injunctive relief and banning importation of infringing product,” said Mr. Thompson.

Sandisk, a leading manufacturer of various flash products, did not elaborate which patents were infringed by its competitors. However, considering that all memory products are usually based on industry standards, Sandisk’s allegations do resemble legal actions of Rambus, which accuses makers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) of patent infringement too.