SSTI--SST Comments On International Trade Commission Findings
SST Expects No Material Impact on Its Operations
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct.17, 2000--SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.) (Nasdaq: SSTI - news) announced today that the United States International Trade Commission (``ITC'') entered a notice of its final determination in the patent dispute between Atmel Corporation, SST and others. The Commission found that products designed by SST do not infringe U.S. Patents No. 4,511,811 and No. 4,673,829. The ITC also held that products designed by SST do infringe U.S. Patent No. 4,451,903, reversing determinations by its Administrative Law Judge that the '903 patent is invalid because it incorrectly names the purported inventors of the patent, unenforceable because of Atmel's inequitable conduct before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the finding that Atmel's predecessor had waived its right to enforce the patent.
The order prohibits the importation of certain EPROMs, EEPROMs, flash memory, and flash microcontroller semiconductor devices that infringe claims 1 or 9 of the '903 patent, and circuit boards containing such products, that are manufactured by or for SST's licensees Winbond Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. Enforcement of the order is automatically stayed until the office of the President approves of the Order, or until the sixty-day period for presidential review expires. The Commission also ordered that a bond of $.78 per device be posted pending the decision of the President.
Bing Yeh, President and CEO of SST had the following comment. ``I am pleased that the Commission upheld the decision of the Administrative Law Judge and held that there was no infringement of the ''811 and '829 patents. I am disappointed with the finding concerning the '903 patent. I believe the Administrative Law Judge made the correct decision as to the '903 and we fully intend to appeal the Commission's decision. If upheld by the President and not stayed or reversed on appeal, SST believes that the Commission's decision will have an immaterial effect on SST's operations. We reiterate our financial guidance for 4Q00 and beyond,`` he said.
The '903 patent was invented by Seeq Technology, Inc. and later acquired in 1994 by Atmel. This patent was promoted by Seeq as an industry standard in the early 1980's and was later adopted by JDEC, an electronic industry standard committee, as a standard. The technique is widely used in EPROM, EEPROM, and FLASH memory products by virtually all nonvolatile memory and programming machine suppliers since JDEC standard was adopted. The '903 patent provides an electronic hardware tag marking method for the device and has no baring on the fundamental memory cell technology. Since 1997, SST has adopted a software alternative in its new products that is used by customers instead. The hardware method can easily and inexpensively be disabled by a simple mask change. Among all SST's products in production today, there are only three old products manufactured by Sanyo that are affected by this ruling. SST is in the process of making mask changes to disable the circuit that is subject to the claim. This change is expected to be in full production within two months.
The '903 patent expires on September 18, 2001. After that time there can be no infringement and the Commission's order will cease to be of any effect. Finally, the issue of infringement and enforceability of the '903 patent are before the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, and the Commission's decision is not binding in that action.
About SuperFlash Technology
SST's SuperFlash technology is a NOR type, split-gate cell architecture which uses a reliable thick-oxide process with fewer manufacturing steps resulting in a low-cost, nonvolatile memory solution with excellent data retention and higher reliability. The split-gate NOR SuperFlash architecture facilitates a simple and flexible design suitable for high performance, high reliability, small or medium sector size, in- or off-system programming and a variety of densities, all in a single CMOS-compatible technology.
About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, for high volume applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet computing markets. SST's product families include high-functionality flash memory components, CompactFlash card mass storage products and 8-bit microcontrollers with on-chip flash memory. SST also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees IBM, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., TSMC-Acer Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TASMC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). TSMC offers SuperFlash under its trademark Emb-FLASH. Further information on SST can be found on the company's Web site at ssti.com.
The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. MPF, ComboMemory and FlashFlex are trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Emb-FLASH is a trademark of TSMC
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding flash memory market conditions, the company's future financial performance, the performance of new products and the company's ability to bring new products to market that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the terms and conditions associated with licensees' royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect the company's customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 and reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2000 and June 30, 2000. |
