A federal jury in Marshall decided Samsung willfully infringed three of semiconductor manufacturer Netlist’s patents regarding memory modules and awarded $118 million.
Netlist alleged Samsung infringed its patented technology after a 2015 agreement expired in 2020. Netlist, a California-based company, filed the suit in August 2022.
The jury on Friday rejected Samsung’s argument that the Netlist patents were invalid. The damages are to be awarded in a lump sum, the jury decided, rather than a running royalty.
Chief U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap presided over the trial that began Nov. 12 and lasted six days.
Netlist presented the jury with Samsung’s internal technical documents that its lawyers said prove Samsung admitted infringement, as well as internal communications among Samsung executives discussing Netlist’s technology.
“At the point of the ending of that agreement, Samsung had a choice — either cease using our technology or face the consequences of the United States legal system,” Irell & Manella partner Jason Sheasby, who represents Netlist, said in opening statements. “And our technology is so valuable that they chose to violate the law.”
Samsung denied infringing the patents. Samsung also argued the patents are invalid because their specifications lack a sufficient description of the claimed invention.
Samsung argued that as technology evolved, Netlist’s invention in the patents became irrelevant.
“Mr. Sheasby went on and on about how they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread, but what you’re really going to find out is they are narrow. They deal with very, very specific parts of the memory chip and processes of memory chip,” Fish & Richardson principal Ruffin Cordell told jurors in opening statements. “And what’s happened is the world has moved on. And so the memory devices of today are a lot smarter and a lot more capable, and they don’t need some of the tricks and the techniques that Netlist came up with way back when.”
In May, a federal jury in the Central District of California found Samsung materially breached the agreement referenced in the Marshall trial, but the lawyers were prohibited from telling jurors about other litigation.
Netlist has sued Samsung for infringing other memory-related patents. Last year, a different Marshall jury returned a $303 million verdict to Netlist.
Netlist also notched a $445 million win earlier this year in Marshall against Micron Technology, which Netlist also accused of infringing patents covering its memory technology.
Netlist is also represented by Lisa Glasser, Tony Rowles and Andrew Strabone of Irell & Manella and Jennifer Truelove of McKool Smith.
Samsung is also represented by Lauren Degnan, Daniel Tishman and Thomas Reger of Fish & Richardson and Melissa Smith of Gillam & Smith.
The case number is 2:22-cv-00293-JRG. The patents at issue in the trial were U.S. Patent Nos. 7,619,912; 10,268,608 and 11,093,417.