SanDisk and Hitachi
Thanks to "flashmemory" on Raging Bull...
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Sandisk, Hitachi Re-sign Flash Deal
By Paul Kallender, Electronic News Online
Oct 03, 2000 --- There were grins and handshakes today in the flash memory camp as two of the industry’s key intellectual property holders, SanDisk and Hitachi, have decided to be friends and reap profits, promising everyone will win.
Flash data storage products maker SanDisk Corp. and Japanese electronics giant Hitachi, Ltd. said today they have re-signed their existing patent cross license agreement.
The new deal also extends the existing agreement’s scope to include, on a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide basis, a license to the multi-level flash memory (MLC flash) patent portfolios of both companies. Hitachi and SanDisk signed the original cross-licensing contract on binary flash memories in 1997.
Under the new agreement, both companies will be free to use each other’s patents related to binary flash and MLC flash in any of their products, with some exclusion of each company’s proprietary technology, the companies said. SanDisk, of Sunnyvale, Calif., will be guaranteed a portion of Hitachi’s flash memory capacity. Other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"Under this agreement, SanDisk recognizes the value of Hitachi’s extensive semiconductor patents, while Hitachi recognizes the value of SanDisk’s fundamental MLC flash memory patents."
said Eli Harari, SanDisk president and CEO
"The key word is MLC, because that technology is essential to both companies' efforts to keep pace with exploding flash demand."
electronicnews.com
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