Aus,
In response to a few of the questions you have posed, I have some answers and my own analysis to offer.
But, if you will bear with me, first a joke that my father used to tell. He was a reformed lawyer, but he knew that the purpose of most law suits is simple--delay.
A young man graduates from law school and joins his father's firm. The youngster is assigned to research a minor aspect of the firm's biggest suit. After a few months the son comes into his father's office and says proudly, "Dad. Guess what?! I settled the Brown case."
His father looks at him incredulously. "You did what?" he storms.
"I got the sides to agree. I settled the Brown case. Everybody is happy."
"You idiot," the father bellows. "Our family has been living off the Brown case for two decades."
I know there are several lawyers who follow our thread, and I suspect they will relate to the joke.
The point is that Lexar is in desperate straights. They Lexar engineers are currently trying to design their way around the serious Sandisk patents. Chances are they have run into problems with that task, and they need more time. So the Lexar management goes to their ace attorneys and says, "We need more time. You must delay." That's my analysis of this latest lawsuit.
As to your question about the Delaware filing, many large corporations are incorporated in Delaware, because that state has favorable laws. Then there is the added benefit of trying to hold the trial where it makes life difficult for the other side. If Eli and several other key Sandisk engineers have to spend a lot of time in Delaware courts, Sandisk's own R&D will suffer considerably. It's just one more arrow in a lawyers bag of tricks to try to force the other side to settle.
Jim |
