The case is being brought by Lexar Media, a US company that specialises in storage for digital cameras. Its president and CEO, John Reimer, yesterday said:
“SanDisk claims that its patent covers all CompactFlash cards and they appear to be seeking a royalty from every manufacturer of those cards. Yet they have always promoted the CompactFlash standard as an open one. If [SanDisk's patent] is as broad as they believe it is, then it should have been disclosed to the industry standards-setting bodies.”
“We believe that this anti-competitive behaviour is harmful to the entire industry. We are also pleased that the Court will review SanDisk's patent misuse which includes our allegations of unlawful tying whereby SanDisk has refused to license [its] patent unless the licensee purchases flash memory from certain SanDisk designees. We therefore look forward to not only the Court's review of the validity of SanDisk's patent, but also the manner in which it was obtained."
The trial will commence on 6th November.