Samsung Ordered to Pay $118 Million for Infringing Netlist Patents

According to Wall Street Insights, a jury in Texas has ruled that Samsung Electronics infringed on three patents related to DRAM products and must pay Netlist Inc. (NLST.US) $118 million in damages.

The case dates back to 2022 when Netlist filed a lawsuit against Samsung, alleging that the memory modules used in cloud computing servers and other data-intensive technologies violated its patents.

The jury also determined that Samsung's infringement was willful, which could prompt the judge to triple the damages awarded.

Samsung has denied the allegations, arguing that the patents in question are invalid and that its technology is different from Netlist’s inventions.

Previously, Samsung and Netlist had a patent licensing agreement, but it expired in 2020.

The patent dispute between the two companies can be traced back to late 2021, when Netlist accused Samsung of using technology from their former collaboration in HBM2/2E/3 and DDR4 LRDIMM, as well as DDR5 UDIMM/SODIMM/RDIMM memory, thereby infringing on five of its patents.

In April 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled in favor of Netlist, finding Samsung guilty of infringement and awarding $303 million in damages.

Samsung maintains that the five patents in this case lack originality and claims the technologies in the related products are distinct from Netlist’s patents. Following the judgment, Samsung filed invalidation lawsuits against the disputed Netlist patents.