FYI
Monday November 17, 8:02 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
SST to File Counterclaim in Intel Patent Lawsuit; SST Claims Unfair and
Anti-Competitive Conduct
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- SST (Nasdaq: SSTI - news; Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.) announced
today that it will file a counterclaim suit against Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC - news) for unfair and anticompetitive
conduct. On Nov. 14, 1997, Intel sued SST for patent infringement in the District of Delaware, claiming that SST infringes
U.S. letters patent 4,949,140, 5,222,046, 5,053,990 and 5,414,829. The patents cover flash memory circuits and memory
cell structure.
Bing Yeh, president and chief executive officer of SST, said that SST's patented split-gate cell technology is unique and based
on different technology and does not infringe Intel's patents. ''I am appalled at the action taken by Intel in filing a suit against
SST,'' said Mr. Yeh. ''This is yet another example of a large corporation targeting small competitors in the non-volatile memory
market.''
''SST will vigorously defend itself against the patent infringement suit, and intends to file a counterclaim for Intel's unfair and
anti-competitive conduct,'' Mr. Yeh explained. ''In addition, SST intends to report Intel's conduct to the Federal Trade
Commission, which is currently conducting an investigation into Intel's business practices.''
''Earlier this year, Intel approached us about obtaining a license from them,'' Mr. Yeh said. ''At that time, SST had two law
firms carefully review the Intel patents in question, and they concluded that SST did not infringe those Intel patents. In
September, Intel threatened to sue us unless we would license our technology to them royalty free and would agree to pay a
royalty for Intel's patent portfolio,'' he explained.
Mr. Yeh also stated that Intel's decision to file suit more than 2,000 miles away in Delaware was inappropriate given that Intel
and SST are less than 10 miles apart.
About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
SST designs, manufactures and markets low cost, high quality, single power supply (5V-only, 3.0V-only or 2.7V-only), small
erase-block flash memory components for the computer, communications and consumer markets. All SST products are based
on patented, proprietary SuperFlash(R) technology. Further information may be obtained from the company's SEC filings or by
contacting SST directly. The company is located in Sunnyvale, Calif. SST's stock is traded on Nasdaq under the symbol SSTI.
The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
SOURCE: Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
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