Samsung Electronics Wins Patent Dispute Against US Semiconductor Company Netlist

Basis for Paying 400 Billion Won Compensation Disappears
All 5 Patents Invalidated

Samsung Electronics has won a patent invalidation lawsuit against the U.S. semiconductor company Netlist.

According to foreign media and industry sources on the 3rd, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled in favor of Samsung Electronics on two patent invalidation cases filed by Samsung on the 2nd (local time).

Including three cases that had already received invalidation decisions, all five patents that Netlist claimed were infringed were declared invalid, eliminating the basis for the payment judgment in the lawsuit held last April at the U.S. Eastern District Court of Texas.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Netlist, headquartered in Irvine, California, was founded by CEO Hong Chun-gi, a former LG Semiconductor employee, in 2000.

The lawsuit between Samsung Electronics and Netlist began when Netlist claimed breach of contract regarding the joint development and license agreement signed by both companies in 2015.

In 2021, Netlist filed a lawsuit alleging that Samsung Electronics' memory technology used in cloud computing servers infringed on its patents. Netlist argued that its technology improves the efficiency of memory modules, enabling useful information to be derived from large amounts of data in a short time, and that Samsung took the patented technology after collaborating on the project. Samsung, on the other hand, countered that Netlist's patents were invalid and that its technology operates differently from Netlist's.

In response, in April last year, a U.S. jury found that Samsung Electronics infringed on five of Netlist's patents, and in August of the same year, the court accepted the jury's verdict and ordered Samsung to pay $303 million (approximately 400 billion KRW) in damages to Netlist. Samsung Electronics filed for patent invalidation trials at the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board for the five patents alleged to be infringed, and all five related patents, including the two recent cases, were declared invalid.

With all the patents cited by Netlist as the basis for the lawsuit being invalidated, industry analysts believe that Samsung Electronics has gained the upper hand in the patent dispute between the two companies.

However, there is a possibility that Netlist will appeal the invalidation decision. In that case, the final ruling will be confirmed by the appellate court.

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