NetList Inc (NLST)

[100lbStriper]

nlst is mentioned...... https://www.mk.co.kr/en/business/11933314 “With the President on Their Side, They Sue First and Ask Questions Later”... K-Semiconductor Becomes Prey for Patent Trolls
TOP
Most read
LEE Jinhan [e-mail]
Input : 2026-01-14 21:15:54 Updated : 2026-01-14 21:17:35
?? ????
Change font
print
share
Trump Emerges as a Wild Card in the Middle of the Supercycle, One-Sided Support for Patent Holders in the United States Spurs Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) Litigation; Samsung Group Faced 198 Suits Last Year, the Most of Any Company, with a Flurry of Lawsuits Also Targeting SK Hynix
?????? ??
Korean semiconductor companies are enjoying a boom amid an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven “supercycle,” but concerns are mounting that they will become targets of so-called patent “monsters,” or patent trolls, as the Executive Branch of the United States under Donald Trump has moved to strengthen protection of patent rights. In particular, as Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs) in the United States step up their aggressive activities, Korean companies are suffering a series of setbacks.

According to patent information provider Unified Patents on the 14th, Samsung Group was the most-sued company in the United States from January to September last year, facing a total of 198 patent cases filed in federal district courts and with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) under the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Of these, 36 were filed in district courts and 162 with the PTAB. By comparison, Apple Inc. was sued 125 times—33 cases in district courts and 92 before the PTAB—meaning Samsung Group faced nearly twice as many suits.


The overwhelming majority of these patent suits involve disputes with NPEs. Of the 36 district court cases against Samsung Group, 26 were brought by NPEs, and of the 162 PTAB proceedings, 127 were initiated by NPEs. NPEs do not actually manufacture products or practice the technologies themselves, but instead exploit broad and vague patents registered in the past to attack companies, earning them the notorious labels of “patent monsters” or “patent trolls.”

View of Samsung Electronics’ Seocho office building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap News Agency]?? ??
View of Samsung Electronics’ Seocho office building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap News Agency]
Even when lawsuits are filed in the United States, the nationalities of the NPEs are diverse. In January last year, SK Hynix was sued for patent infringement by Chinese-affiliated NPE Advanced Memory Technology, which claimed that SK Hynix had infringed four of its core patents, including those related to booster circuits. The case is currently pending before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In November last year, SK Hynix was also sued for patent infringement by U.S.-based NPE Monolithic 3D.

In 2023 and 2024, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. was ordered in two separate rulings to pay a total of 421.15 million dollars (approximately 630 billion won) in damages to patent management firm Netlist Inc., founded by Chun K. Hong, a former LG Semicon executive. Netlist Inc. had previously reached a settlement worth 40 million dollars (about 60 billion won) with SK Hynix in 2021.

Analysts say this situation stems from the fact that, as Korean semiconductor companies increase their global market share and revenue, the incentive for NPEs in the United States to bring lawsuits has grown. At the same time, critics point out that, on the institutional side, the Trump administration’s pro–patent holder policies have raised NPEs’ chances of winning, thereby encouraging more litigation in the first place.


The United States introduced the inter partes review (IPR) system in 2011 to curb frivolous patent lawsuits. IPR has served as a key defensive tool that allows accused companies to quickly challenge the validity of patents before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

However, under the Trump administration, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) began applying stricter standards for instituting IPR proceedings, undermining the effectiveness of the system. Cases in which IPR petitions were denied at the USPTO’s discretion surged, often on the grounds that related litigation over the same patent was already underway or that there was a potential for procedural abuse. In fact, the rate at which IPR petitions were denied jumped from around 30 percent to over 90 percent after the new Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office took office in September last year.

Researchers at SK Hynix inspect semiconductor equipment. [SK Hynix]?? ??
Researchers at SK Hynix inspect semiconductor equipment. [SK Hynix]
Industry insiders also warn that it is problematic that federal administrative bodies such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) are increasingly intervening directly in individual patent disputes and siding with patent holders. In connection with the ongoing litigation brought by Netlist Inc. against Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and others, these agencies submitted a joint statement to the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) in November last year, arguing that vigorous enforcement of patent rights serves the public interest.

On the ground, there is a growing view that the surge in NPE attacks should be addressed not at the level of individual companies, but as a matter of survival strategy for Korea’s industrial sector as a whole. As sued companies pour enormous legal costs and time into fending off NPEs, only to end up settling after negotiations, they face disruptions to research and development (R&D) investment, capacity expansion, and supply chain stabilization, which could ultimately leave them lagging in long-term technological competitiveness.

A representative of a semiconductor company said, “There is growing concern that the more technology we develop and the more patents we hold, the more likely we are to become targets for NPEs,” adding, “If we are to safeguard the competitiveness of the Korean semiconductor industry, the government must come up with extraordinary measures at the national level.”