SanDisk Sues 25 Companies On Memory Patents

Storage developer SanDisk has filed patent infringement lawsuits against 25 companies who make, import, and sell flash storage and portable music players.

In a massive legal move, storage and portable media player developer SanDisk has filed three patent infringement lawsuits alleging some 25 companies that manufacture, import, or sell everything from USB flash drives to multimedia cards to portable media players infringe on SanDisk patents. The suits were filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin and with the U.S. International Trade Commission; the suits allege that the companies are actively infringing on SanDisk’s system-level patents. SanDisk is seeking an injunction on manufacturing infringing products and importing them into the United States, as well as unspecified monetary damages.

"Our goal is to resolve these matters by offering the defendants the opportunity to participate in our patent licensing program for card and system technology," said SanDisk’s chief intellectual property counsel E. Earle Thompson, in a statement. "Otherwise, we will aggressively pursue these actions, seeking a prompt judicial resolution awarding damages, obtaining injunctive relief, and banning importation of infringing product."

The companies targeted by SanDisks’ suits include some big names, including LG Electronics, Verbatim, Buffalo, Corsair Memory, Edge, Imation/Memorex, and Kingston. In total, SanDisk alleges the companies infringe on seven SanDisk patents, although SanDisk has not yet disclosed the specific patent numbers and the technologies involved.

The Western District of Wisconsin is known for its relatively quick action on cases; in filing there, SanDisk is either seeking to have a court rule on its case as quickly as possible, or apply pressure to allegedly-infringing companies to work out a settlement deal before the gavel falls—or both. So far, none of the companies targeted by SanDisk’s suits have publicly responded to the allegations.