Netlist Requests Reexamination of SMART Modular U.S. Patent

Netlist, Inc., provider of high performance memory solutions for the cloud computing market, submitted a reexamination request last week to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seeking to invalidate U.S. Patent No. 8,250,295 (‘295 patent) recently issued to SMART Modular Technologies, Inc.

Netlist’s reexamination request asserts that the claims of the ‘295 patent are invalid over a number of prior art references that were not previously considered by the USPTO. Netlist believes that SMART was in possession of at least one of these prior art references during the prosecution of the ‘295 patent but failed to disclose it to the USPTO.

Netlist’s issued patents remain valid and enforceable, and unaffected by SMART’s ‘295 patent.

"The claims in the patent application that resulted in the ‘295 patent were repeatedly rejected by the USPTO over the course of eight years. The only independent claim to survive the process was not examined in view of relevant prior art," said Netlist president and CEO, C.K. Hong. "In contrast to SMART’s one patent and lone independent claim, we have a portfolio of 25 patents and pending applications containing hundreds of claims directed to rank multiplication and load isolation technologies. None of our current or pipeline products rely on any single patent for protection and commercialization. Finally, all of these patent activities by various parties confirm the tremendous value brought to the industry by Netlist’s intellectual property. We plan to vigorously defend our IP rights and assets as we have successfully done in the past."