Samsung Wins Over Netlist in U.S. Patent Battle

After disputes over memory semiconductor module patents
All five cases raised by Netlist invalidated

Samsung Electronics has won a patent invalidation lawsuit against American semiconductor company Netlist over memory semiconductor module patents.

According to industry sources, on the 4th, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled in favor of Samsung Electronics in two patent invalidation lawsuits filed by the company on the 2nd (local time). With this, all five patents that Netlist claimed were infringed have been invalidated, including three that had already received invalidation rulings. As a result, all the bases for the payment ruling in the lawsuit that took place last year in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas have disappeared.

Netlist, headquartered in Irvine, California, was founded in 2000 by Hong Chun Ki, a former LG Semiconductor executive. The lawsuit between Samsung Electronics and Netlist began in 2015 when Netlist claimed a breach of a joint development and licensing agreement signed by both companies.

In 2021, Netlist filed a lawsuit claiming that the memory technology used in Samsung Electronics’ cloud computing servers infringed on its patents. At the time, Netlist argued that its technology improved the efficiency of memory modules, enabling them to extract useful information from large amounts of data quickly, and that Samsung Electronics took the patented technology after collaborating on the project. On the other hand, Samsung Electronics countered that Netlist’s patent was invalid and that its technology operated differently from Netlist’s.

In response, a U.S. jury ruled in April last year that Samsung Electronics had infringed on five of Netlist’s patents. In August of the same year, the court accepted the jury’s verdict and ordered Samsung Electronics to pay Netlist $330 million in damages.

Unsatisfied with the ruling, Samsung Electronics requested an invalidation review of the five patents with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Three of them have already been invalidated, and the remaining two have also been invalidated. Thus, all of Samsung Electronics’ claims have been accepted in all cases.

As all the patents that Netlist presented as the basis for the lawsuit have been invalidated, industry analysis suggests that Samsung Electronics has gained the upper hand in the patent dispute between the two companies. However, there is a possibility that Netlist may appeal the invalidation decision. In that case, it will be finalized in the appellate court.