Defendant
15 cases as defendant.
Netlist, Inc. is a publicly traded technology company founded in 2000 and headquartered in Irvine, California. The company's stock trades on the OTCQB market under the ticker symbol NLST. For its fiscal year ending in late 2025, Netlist reported revenues of $188.6 million and had approximately 69 employees.
Netlist is an operating company that designs, manufactures, and sells high-performance memory subsystems for enterprise and cloud computing markets. Its product lines include enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs), embedded flash products, and specialty memory modules like NVDIMMs and other DIMMs. The company focuses on hybrid memory, which combines DRAM and NAND flash to create solutions for servers and data centers. It also holds a portfolio of patents related to memory and storage technologies.
Based on the provided case data, Netlist has been a defendant in two tracked patent cases and has not appeared as a plaintiff. This posture suggests the profile of an operating company defending its technology. The two cases listed are a Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceeding initiated by Samsung Electronics and a district court case brought by Micron Technology in the District of Idaho.
The tracked cases involve disputes with major global semiconductor and memory manufacturers. The case Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al. v. Netlist, Inc. is a post-grant proceeding at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, while Micron Technology, Inc. v. Netlist, Inc. is a federal lawsuit. These opponents are significant players in the markets where Netlist operates.
A petition for inter partes review (IPR) of US Patent 9,824,035 filed by Samsung. The PTAB declined to institute the review due to procedural reasons.
A declaratory judgment action for non-infringement filed by Samsung against Netlist. The case is currently active.
Micron's Idaho bad-faith patent assertion action against Netlist under Idaho Code § 48-1703, based specifically on Netlist's assertion of the '833 patent in W.D. Tex. Removed to D. Idaho, remanded to Idaho state court on Aug. 16, 2024; appeal pending and trial most recently set for Feb. 1, 2027.
Samsung filed this IPR against Netlist's US Patent 10,268,608. The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision on October 31, 2024, finding certain claims unpatentable, which decision was affirmed by the Federal Circuit on December 11, 2025.
Micron petitioned for inter partes review of the '314 patent, challenging claims 1, 2, 6, 8, and 12-14 as obvious over Halbert and JEDEC standards. The PTAB instituted review and ultimately held no challenged claim unpatentable.
Micron filed this IPR against Netlist's US Patent 10,268,608. Institution was denied on the merits on June 29, 2022, as the Board found the petitioner had not sufficiently demonstrated prior art.
Samsung initiated a declaratory judgment action against Netlist, alleging non-infringement of US10217523B1 and other patents. Netlist filed counterclaims for infringement against Samsung, Google LLC, and Alphabet, Inc. The case was stayed pending resolution of a related action.
SK hynix's IPR petition on the '833 patent. Sources conflict on whether trial was instituted; the proceeding terminated with refunds by May 2018 and no final written decision is noted.
SK hynix petitioned for inter partes review of claims 1-4, 6, 7, 10, 13, 17, and 23 of the '364 patent as obvious over Halbert and Amidi. The PTAB instituted review on May 15, 2017, and its Final Written Decision of May 3, 2018 found all challenged claims unpatentable. Netlist appealed to the Federal Circuit.
SK hynix petitioned for inter partes review of claims 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the '837 patent. The PTAB instituted review and held all instituted claims unpatentable as obvious; the Federal Circuit later affirmed.
SanDisk's IPR petition targeting claims of the '833 patent. PTAB denied institution on Dec. 16, 2014; no claims cancelled.
Declaratory judgment/offensive action brought by SMART Modular Technologies against Netlist on the '833 patent. Outcome not verified.
A lawsuit in which Micron accused Netlist of bad faith assertions of patent infringement involving four patents, including the '035 patent. The federal case was remanded to Idaho state court and is now closed.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. challenged the validity of US10217523B1 in this Inter Partes Review. The PTAB issued a Final Written Decision upholding the validity of the patent, which was later affirmed on appeal.
Declaratory judgment/offensive action brought by Diablo Technologies against Netlist on the '833 patent. Outcome not verified.