Micron Could Pay $1.3 Billion in Damages to HBM Patent Holder

Netlist, a company specializing in solid-state drives and modular memory subsystems for enterprise customers, recently achieved a significant legal victory in a patent infringement case against Micron. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled in favor of Netlist, finding that certain Micron semiconductor-memory products violated two of Netlist's patents related to memory module performance enhancement technology.

The jury awarded Netlist a total of US$445 million in damages for the infringement. Notably, the jurors determined that Micron had wilfully infringed the patents, potentially leading to a tripling of the award by the presiding judge. The specific patents at the center of the case are US Patent Nos. 7,619,912 and 11,093,417, with the infringing products identified as Micron DDR4 RDIMMs and DDR4 LRDIMMs.

Netlist disclosed that the damages cover the period from April 2021 to May 2024 for the ‘912 patent and from August 2021 to May 2024 for the ‘417 patent. While Micron is expected to appeal the ruling, the legal dispute over patent validity could prolong the resolution process. This legal victory follows a previous successful judgment by Netlist against Samsung in a similar case.

Chuck Hong, the CEO of Netlist, emphasized the importance of the company's patents in the semiconductor industry, particularly in technologies like HBM and DDR5 crucial for generative AI computing. Despite the favorable ruling, Netlist faces challenges as some of the patents asserted in the case against Samsung have encountered setbacks due to decisions from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Looking ahead, Netlist's legal team is prepared for potential appeals that could extend over several months, with the possibility of further proceedings at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. The outcome of this case underscores the significance of intellectual property protection in the competitive landscape of memory technologies, especially as companies like Netlist defend their innovations against infringement.