Press Release: Court reinstates patent lawsuit filed by SanDisk


SanDisk Corporation announced today that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on July 8, reversed a summary judgment ruling of non-infringement by a California District Court regarding SanDisk's U.S. Patent No. 5,602,987 (“'987 Patent”). As a result of the CAFC decision, SanDisk will renew the prosecution of its infringement claims against Ritek, Pretec & Memorex flash memory cards. The CAFC ruling supports SanDisk’s interpretation of the key inventive features claimed in the ‘987 patent, and thereby eliminates the primary non-infringement argument of Ritek, Pretec & Memorex. SanDisk expects to seek summary judgment of infringement against the accused company's. 

SanDisk pioneering inventions
The '987 Patent (which was issued on Feb. 11, 1997) teaches and claims important aspects of the emulation of a magnetic disk drive in removable flash memory storage products, such as SD Cards, Memory Stick Pro, USB flash drives, certain portable flash audio players, CompactFlash, and MultiMedia-Cards among others. The pioneering inventions of the '987 patent enable flash memory cards and other storage pro-ducts to achieve enhanced performance, reliability and host platform compatibility.

SanDisk will continue to protect
“We are very pleased with the decision handed down by the CAFC and believe this reaffirms the important and fundamental nature of SanDisk’s patented technology,” said E. Earle Thompson, SanDisk’s Chief Intellectual Property Counsel. “SanDisk will continue to protect its investment in intellectual property and vigorously enforce its patents against companies that seek to use SanDisk’s patented technology without a license.”

SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards
SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world’s largest supplier of flash data storage card products, using it patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA and has operations worldwide, with more than half its sales outside the USA.

Factors that may affect future results
The matters discussed in this news release contain forward looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties as described under the caption, “Factors That May Affect Future Results,” specifically the section entitled "Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property” in SanDisk’s annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. SanDisk assumes no obligation to update the information in this release.  

Posted: Mon - July 11, 2005 at 11:42 PM   WIR NewsStream by Piranha Daily News   The Stream   Previous   Next  

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