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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ausdauer who wrote (10125)	4/4/2000 7:38:00 PM
From: Craig Freeman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

Ausdauer, a comment on the "M" patent suit is all too appropriate. On the day that SNDK prevailed in round one of its battle with Lexar, "M" filed suit in Japan to stop SNDK from shipping flash products into that country. The basis of their suit ... the way in which connectors are used on memory cards. Let's look at this in detail. Only days ago, SNDK received a U.S. patent on the way in which they assemble flash cards and provide connectors. Not that I think that this patent is enforceable but it created a HUGE wall to prevent other companies from producing anything remotely flash-related without having to deal with SNDK. SNDK also hold patents on using flash memory as a "disk drive emulation device". I could make the case that disk drive emulation was "invented" by the innovators of "solid-state disk drives" long before SNDK opened its doors. But the patent office apparantly disagrees with me. Not to mention that several MAJOR international companies have agreed to pay royalties for this (IMHO) not-so-innovative idea. When the Feds decided to ban imports of "offending flash memory" from Japan, they proved that U.S. policy can be counted upon to serve the interests of U.S. companies. So it is only reasonable that a a foreign company would ask its courts to serve its own country's interest. Which brings us to the most famous camera company on Earth and "M", owner of the Nikon brand. They are outright P.O.'d at the idea that a U.S. company can garner enough patents to halt their progress. Now ... if "M" really thought that their "memory card connection" patents were worth something then they could have fired shots at dozens of companies over the years. Only after SNDK won against Lexar did they have a reason to proceed. Why? Because now they have something they want, a SINGLE target, and they have the Japanese government on their side. If life was fair, Xerox would be receiving massive royalties from Microsoft (because it was their Palo Alto division that invented "Windows"); IBM's early efforts in memory cards would circumvent both "M" and SNDK in any memory card connector patents; and we could also get a cup of coffee at Starbucks for a quarter. My advice .. when you invest in SNDK, be sure to factor in the unreasonable, the unlikely and even the impossible. Craig