Tweet
October 22, 2010, 1:02 PM EDT
By Mark Drajem and Susan Decker
(Updates with Spansion comment in fifth and sixth paragraphs, Samsung comment in seventh paragraph.)
Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Spansion Inc. lost a patent- infringement ruling in its efforts to block imports of devices that contain Samsung Electronics Co. flash-memory chips.
Samsung didn?t violate Spansion patent rights, U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Charles Bullock found, according to an agency website posting today. The decision is subject to review by the full six-member commission.
A ruling in Spansion?s favor may have led to an order banning products with Samsung chips, including Research In Motion Ltd.?s BlackBerry devices and Lenovo Group Ltd. computers. Spansion claimed that Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung infringed its patent on flash memory, used to store images and music on portable electronics, to ?unjustly enrich Samsung by many hundreds of millions of dollars.?
Spansion dropped 94 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $18.44 at 12:50 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares rose about 2 percent this year before today.
?We are disappointed in the judge?s ruling,? Michele Landry, a spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, California-based Spansion, said in an e-mailed statement. ?However, this is only a first step in the decision process.?
?We will continue to fight any violations of our technology patents,? she said. The company said it has four other patent-infringement lawsuits filed against Samsung in August at the ITC in Washington.
Samsung had no comment on the ruling, according to a spokeswoman, Chris Goodhart.
Scuttled Settlement
Samsung, Asia?s biggest maker of semiconductors, had agreed in 2009 to pay Spansion $70 million to end the dispute. That agreement was rejected by a U.S. judge who was presiding over Spansion?s bankruptcy. Spansion, a former unit of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in March 2009, and emerged from bankruptcy in May 2010.
Samsung has patent-infringement claims against Spansion at the ITC, and a trial is scheduled to be held in December, according to information on the ITC?s website.
Today?s case is In the Matter of Certain Flash Memory Chips and Products Containing the Same, 337-664, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).
For News and Related Information: Today?s most read technology news: {MNI TEC } Top legal stories: {TLAW } Bloomberg legal resources: {BLAW } Top technology news: {TTOP }
--Editors: Romaine Bostick, Steve Geimann.
To contact the reporters on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net; Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net.
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds
(Updates with Spansion comment in fifth and sixth paragraphs, Samsung comment in seventh paragraph.)
Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Spansion Inc. lost a patent- infringement ruling in its efforts to block imports of devices that contain Samsung Electronics Co. flash-memory chips.
Samsung didn?t violate Spansion patent rights, U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Charles Bullock found, according to an agency website posting today. The decision is subject to review by the full six-member commission.
A ruling in Spansion?s favor may have led to an order banning products with Samsung chips, including Research In Motion Ltd.?s BlackBerry devices and Lenovo Group Ltd. computers. Spansion claimed that Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung infringed its patent on flash memory, used to store images and music on portable electronics, to ?unjustly enrich Samsung by many hundreds of millions of dollars.?
Spansion dropped 94 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $18.44 at 12:50 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares rose about 2 percent this year before today.
?We are disappointed in the judge?s ruling,? Michele Landry, a spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, California-based Spansion, said in an e-mailed statement. ?However, this is only a first step in the decision process.?
?We will continue to fight any violations of our technology patents,? she said. The company said it has four other patent-infringement lawsuits filed against Samsung in August at the ITC in Washington.
Samsung had no comment on the ruling, according to a spokeswoman, Chris Goodhart.
Scuttled Settlement
Samsung, Asia?s biggest maker of semiconductors, had agreed in 2009 to pay Spansion $70 million to end the dispute. That agreement was rejected by a U.S. judge who was presiding over Spansion?s bankruptcy. Spansion, a former unit of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in March 2009, and emerged from bankruptcy in May 2010.
Samsung has patent-infringement claims against Spansion at the ITC, and a trial is scheduled to be held in December, according to information on the ITC?s website.
Today?s case is In the Matter of Certain Flash Memory Chips and Products Containing the Same, 337-664, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).
For News and Related Information: Today?s most read technology news: {MNI TEC } Top legal stories: {TLAW } Bloomberg legal resources: {BLAW } Top technology news: {TTOP }
--Editors: Romaine Bostick, Steve Geimann.
To contact the reporters on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net; Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net.
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds