IRVINE, Calif., March 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Netlist, Inc.
(NASDAQ: NLST), a leading provider of high performance and hybrid
memory solutions for the cloud computing and storage markets, today
announced it has prevailed against Smart Modular Technologies in
the final Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs) of two Netlist patents, U.S.
Patent Nos. 8,001,434 and 8,359,501 related to self-test.
Netlist's patented self-test technologies are widely used in
high-performance memory modules, including LRDIMM, SSDs, and
Storage Class Memory. These techniques are used in LRDIMM, for
example, to ensure proper timing on the data path. The Patent Trial
and Appeal Board (PTAB) has now conducted two full reviews of both
patents and twice confirmed their validity. The earlier decisions
by the PTAB confirming the validity of these claims came in
December, 2015 based on reviews initiated by SanDisk.
"The extraordinary success we've experienced before the PTAB and
Federal Circuit is a testament to Netlist's long track record of
fundamental innovation in the area of high performance memory,"
said C.K. Hong, Netlist's Chief
Executive Officer. "We remain committed to defending our industry
leading IP and monetizing our patent portfolio through licensing
and enforcement."
The '434 and '501 patents are part of a seven-patent lawsuit
Netlist filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District
of California against the
ULLtraDIMM product from SanDisk and Diablo Technologies. In
response to the lawsuit, SanDisk, Diablo and Smart Modular filed a total of 17
IPRs attempting to invalidate the seven Netlist patents. With
these latest results, Netlist has now been successful in defending
five of the seven asserted patents. According to the latest
USPTO statistics, 72% of IPRs that proceed all the way to a final
decision end with the PTAB invalidating all challenged claims, and
at least some claims being invalidated in another 14%.
The other patents in the lawsuit cover fundamental aspects of
high-performance memory modules, such as the distributed buffer
architecture used for DDR4 LRDIMM, and clocking and buffering
techniques critical to the design of Non-Volatile DIMMs (NVDIMMs)
such as the NVvault®, ULLtraDIMM, and Netlist's next-generation
HyperVault® Storage Class Memory technology.
About Netlist, Inc.
Netlist creates solutions that
accelerate turning data into information. We design and manufacture
controller and software-based memory solutions for our OEM and
Hyperscale customers in the server and storage space. Flagship
products NVvault® and EXPRESSvault™ accelerate system performance
and provide mission critical fault tolerance. HyperVault®,
Netlist's next-generation architecture, expands the performance and
capacity of memory channel storage. The company holds a portfolio
of patents, many seminal, in the area of hybrid memory, rank
multiplication and load-reduction, among others. To learn more,
visit www.netlist.com.
Safe Harbor Statement:
This news release contains
forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future
performance of Netlist. A forward‑looking statement is neither a
prediction nor a guarantee of future events or circumstances and is
based on currently available market, operating, financial and
competitive information and assumptions. Forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expected or projected, including,
among others, risks associated with the launch and commercial
success of our products, programs and technologies; the success of
product, joint development and licensing partnerships; continuing
development, qualification and volume production of HyperVault™,
EXPRESSvault™, NVvault®, HyperCloud® and VLP Planar-X RDIMM;
the timing and magnitude of the continued decrease in our sales;
our ability to leverage our NVvault® and EXPRESSvault™ technology
in a more diverse customer base; our need to raise additional
capital and our ability to obtain financing when necessary; the
rapidly-changing nature of technology; risks associated with
intellectual property, including patent infringement
litigation against us as well as the costs and unpredictability of
litigation over infringement of our intellectual property and the
possibility of our patents being reexamined or reviewed by the
United States Patent and Trademark office and the Patent Trial and
Appeal Board; volatility in the pricing of DRAM ICs and NAND flash;
changes in and uncertainty of customer acceptance of, and demand
for, our existing products and products under development,
including uncertainty of and/or delays in product orders and
product qualifications; delays in our and our customers'
product releases and development; introductions of new products by
competitors; changes in end-user demand for technology solutions;
our ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; our reliance
on suppliers of critical components and vendors in the supply
chain; fluctuations in the market price of critical components;
evolving industry standards; the political and regulatory
environment in the People's Republic of
China; and general economic and market conditions. Other
risks and uncertainties are described in our annual report on Form
10-K filed on March 4, 2016, and
subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
we make from time to time. Except as required by law, we undertake
no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
For more information, please contact:
Brainerd Communicators, Inc.
Mike Smargiassi/Jenny
Perales
NLST@braincomm.com
(212)
986-6667
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SOURCE Netlist, Inc.