SanDisk and Ritek settle patent dispute

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Storage companies SanDisk and Ritek have settled their patent dispute which will see the two companies enter into an agreement on royalty bearing cross-licenses.

All further patent infringement litigation against Taiwan-based Ritek has also been dropped. The terms and conditions of the deal remain undisclosed.

The deal will see the Taiwanese firm be the only manufacturer in its country to produce flash cards, USB flash drives and storage systems licensed by SanDisk.

"SanDisk's valuable intellectual property umbrella will enable further growth of our business" said Eric Ai, deputy announcer of Ritek in a statement. "Our customers can use Ritek flash cards and USB drives with certainty that there will be no downstream interruption from SanDisk."

Earle Thompson, SanDisk's chief intellectual property counsel, said that the cross license deal was a significant step in making sure that his company's patents are respected.

"We are pleased with Ritek's decision to be the first Taiwanese manufacturer to take our new non-volatile memory system license agreement," said Thompson.

"Consistent with our longstanding licensing policy, we will license other manufacturers of flash cards, USB flash drives and storage systems, while vigorously pursuing parties that infringe or contribute to the infringement of our intellectual property," he said.

IT PRO contacted SanDisk and Ritek for further comment but both declined the invitation.

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