SK Hynix Finally Settles Patent Lawsuit with Netlist

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] SK Hynix has decided to end its legal dispute by reaching a settlement with the U.S. semiconductor company Netlist, with which it had been engaged in patent litigation for several years. SK Hynix will pay royalties for patent usage to Netlist, and the two companies will cooperate moving forward.

According to industry sources on the 7th, Netlist announced on the 5th that it had reached a cross-license agreement on memory semiconductor technology with SK Hynix. Under this agreement, SK Hynix will gain access to Netlist's U.S. and foreign patents and provide royalties accordingly. Additionally, all ongoing legal disputes in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas and the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) will be concluded. The two companies also announced plans to collaborate on SK Hynix product supply and Netlist's CXL hybrid DIMM technology.

Hong Chun-gi, CEO of Netlist, stated, "We are pleased that the value of Netlist's intellectual property (IP) has been recognized, and we are very excited to partner with SK Hynix, a global leader in memory and storage technology."

Netlist was founded in 2000 by CEO Hong, a former LG Semiconductor employee. The company is listed on the NASDAQ and received a $23 million investment (approximately 25.8 billion KRW) from Samsung Electronics in 2015, along with a cross-license agreement. Since 2016, Netlist and SK Hynix have been fiercely competing in patent infringement lawsuits in the U.S.

Netlist and SK Hynix had a patent infringement trial scheduled in Texas for July, and last month, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board accepted SK Hynix's petition to investigate the invalidity of Netlist's patents. This settlement is expected to bring an end to these legal disputes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.