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SanDisk Sues 25 Companies for Patent Infringement

Posted by Zonk on from the who-isn't-sue-happy-nowadays dept.

dnormant writes "Suits have been filed against 25 companies by the SanDisk corporation this week, as the company looks to stop businesses from shipping products it alleges are infringing on its work. SanDisk has filed suits against everyone from MP3 player manufacturers to USB hard drive creators. The list of defendants is staggering, and MacWorld notes if Sandisk succeeds it could have repercussions outside of the courtroom. 'The company filed two lawsuits in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin, one alleging the infringement of five patents in the ITC complaint, and another one including two additional patents not involved in the ITC action. The court and ITC complaints could affect the prices and availability of products made by companies targeted in the suit if SanDisk wins and the companies are barred from importing products into the U.S.'"

15 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Umm.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the summary:

    MacWorld notes if Sandisk succeeds it could have repercussions outside of the courtroom
    Not to nitpick or anything, but that's a really pointless statement. Court decisions always have repercussions outside of the courtroom. There wouldn't be much point to having court decisions if they didn't.

    "The court has decided that the patents are valid and the defendant must refrain from distributing products that implement the patented technology. But only inside this courtroom, of course. Out in the real world you can do whatever you want... Have a nice day."
    1. Re:Umm.... by kidcharles · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think this phrase is to make a distinction between a case which would set an important precedent versus one that would not. If a case does not establish a new precedent, it would change little "outside of the courtroom," i.e. it would not effect much outside of those involved in the case directly. If I go to court to contest a parking ticket and I still have to pay, nothing is happening "outside the courtroom." If I contest a parking ticket and it sets in motion a series of decisions saying that parking tickets are unconstitutional, there would be a profound effect "outside the courtroom."

      --
      Ceci n'est pas une sig.
  2. Press Release by bazald · · Score: 4, Informative

    The official press release is here:
    http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=4025

    Is it public what patents they are suing over yet? There seem to be no real details anywhere...

    --
    Insert self-referential sig here.
  3. The List by urcreepyneighbor · · Score: 5, Informative

    SanDisk is suing: 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).
    --
    "The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
  4. Note who is not being sued.... by jdgeorge · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A list of companies NOT named might be interesting, too. Among them are:
    Apple
    Samsung
    Micron/Lexar
    Sony

    Each of these seems to be a major player in these markets....

    What deals (if any) do these guys have with SanDisk so they aren't getting sued?

    1. Re:Note who is not being sued.... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They probably either buy chips from SanDisk, or they have a license deal with SanDisk.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
    2. Re:Note who is not being sued.... by farker+haiku · · Score: 5, Funny

      it's called the "Our lawyers can kick your lawyers ass" deal.

      --
      Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
    3. Re:Note who is not being sued.... by rnswebx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      See this is the main reason why our patent system is completely messed up. If you patent flash memory technology, you shouldn't have the right to stop all other companies from making similar products. Wheres the fair market?
      Hmm, what? Our patent system is certainly flawed, but your argument is exactly what patents are for. If I develop a way to do something that hasn't been done before, then you either need to figure a new way to do it or license my technology. Maybe we disagree on the underlying idea that I should be able to prevent people/companies from simply copying an idea, using their big bank accounts to market it into oblivion, and eventually making fortunes off of my invention. I like patents, as long as the idea is actually new and the technology is not obvious. PS: I don't know what SanDisk's lawsuit is based on as the articles seem to be light on details, so I can't really comment to this particular case.
  5. They have patents of their own? by IvyKing · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I suspect that Apple, Samsung, Micron and Sony have quite a few patents of their own that could be used against SanDisk if SanDisk sued them, and supect the companies they are suing don't have much of a patent portfolio.


    Another possibility is that the companies not being sued have cross-licensing agreements in place with SanDisk.

  6. Re:Almost content-less article by Intron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm guessing it's number 5,602,987 which was struck down in 2003 when they sued others and reversed on appeal more recently.

    --
    Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
  7. Re:It's times like these... by Fred_A · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... that make me wonder why I didn't study Law. (Oh -- I remember now... it's 'cos I have a soul... ) That's not a problem, as a law student you would have been entitled to a free soulectomy.
    --

    May contain traces of nut.
    Made from the freshest electrons.
  8. Re:Almost content-less article by spazoid12 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's true, but it's necessary. Posting stories with actual detail has been patented and they don't want to be sued for infringing...

  9. Re:They waited ALL these years.... by TheNinjaroach · · Score: 4, Informative

    Doesn't patent-enforcement and claims for damages, etc, require ongoing, active enforcement? No, the active enforcement requirement applies to trademarks, not to patents.
    --
    I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
  10. Re:Funny thing is... by anagama · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Interesting? What a bunch of crap U3 is. I recently bought a 4gb USB device -- says on the back it works w/ Max/Linux/Windows. When I stuck it in my powerbook, I get the drive plus a "CD" with three installers on it. Ok I thought, I'll just reformat. Didn't fix it. So I decided I'd use a linux box to reformat -- can't do it. The partition looks like a read-only CD-ROM. After some googling, it turns out there is a program from U3 to eliminate this fake CD partition -- of course the crap only works with windows. I don't have a windows box -- I tried fixing it on a friends machine, he has parallels and XP, but the damn thing wouldn't even mount on the windows box. Somewhere between my friend's office and mine, I lost the USB device. I lost the USB device because I hadn't put it on my key ring. I didn't put in my keyring because the U3 crap made the device perform annoyingly.

    The U3 developers are retards. The highest demand to remove their crap is probably from non-windows users. So they go and release a windows only removal solution. I had never heard of U3 before and I hope they die a slow painful death in bankruptcy.

    --
    What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
  11. Re:*looks at san disk cards* by obarel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Of course patents drive the industry forward.

    They motivate people to find alternatives to expensive yet ridiculously obvious "inventions", thus making huge progress in fields such as compression, encryption, search technologies etc.

    Not exactly the intent behind the system, but it seems to work pretty well. If GIF hadn't been patented, we wouldn't have PNG now.