Mosaid expands patent infringement suit against Elpida

The amended complaint, which now includes U.S. Patent No. 7,492,656 (the '656 patent), alleges infringement of seven of Mosaid's U.S. patents. Mosaid filed its original complaint against Elpida, Buffalo and Axiontech on May 10, 2011, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. The '656 patent is based on technology developed by Mosaid design engineers. Mosaid is asserting the '656 patent against the computer memory and module products of all three defendants, including Elpida's Low Power Double Data Rate 2 (LPDDR2) products. Mobile DRAM semiconductor devices, such as Elpida's LPDDR2 products, are widely used in smart phones, tablet PCs and other portable handheld products. "The addition of the '656 patent expands the product coverage of our patent infringement case against Elpida and the other defendants," said Michael Vladescu, Vice President, Licensing and Intellectual Property, Mosaid. "While we are interested in resolving this dispute, we are also fully prepared to continue defending our intellectual property rights through litigation." Elpida is the world's third-largest producer of commodity DRAM products. Among the top 12 DRAM companies, which account for 99.4% of global DRAM shipments, Elpida is the only company that has not taken a license to Mosaid's memory patent portfolio. Mosaid has signed 29 memory related patent license agreements, and since 2010 has renewed its agreements with Samsung Electronics, Hynix Semiconductor, and Nanya Technology.