Samsung hit with $303 mln jury verdict in computer-memory patent lawsuit

Computer-memory company Netlist Inc NLST.PK convinced a federal jury in Texas on Friday (21 April) to award it more than $303 million for Samsung Electronics Co's 005930.KS infringement of several patents related to improvements in data processing.

The jury in Marshall, Texas determined after a six-day trial that Samsung's "memory modules" for high-performance computing willfully infringed all five patents that Netlist accused the Korean tech giant of violating.

Representatives for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Netlist stock was up 21% following the verdict on Friday afternoon.

Irvine, California-based Netlist sued Samsung in 2021, alleging Samsung memory products used in cloud-computing servers and other data-intensive technology infringe its patents. Netlist said its innovations increase the power efficiency of memory modules and allow users to "derive useful information from vast amounts of data in a shorter period of time."

A Netlist attorney told the jury that Samsung took its patented module technology after the companies had collaborated on another project, according to a court transcript.

Netlist had asked the jury for $404 million in damages.

Samsung had argued that the patents were invalid and that its technology worked in a different way than Netlist's inventions.

The case is Netlist Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co, US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No. 2:21-cv-00463.