SMART Modular Technologies (SMOD)

[eastunder]

In Response to SMART Modular Technologies' Request for Reexamination, Patent Office Rejects 50 Claims of Netlist's '912 Patent

Smart Modular (NASDAQ:SMOD)
Intraday Stock Chart
Today : Tuesday 19 April 2011

SMART Modular Technologies (WWH), Inc. ("SMART" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: SMOD), a leading independent manufacturer of memory modules and solid state storage products, today announced that the United States Patent & Trademark Office ("PTO") has rejected 50 of 51 claims in Netlist's U.S. Patent No. 7,619,912 in a first office action in SMART's reexamination of the '912 patent. Netlist's '912 patent relates to "rank multiplication" technology associated with high density registered DIMMs that support the high growth server market.

The PTO rejected Netlist's '912 patent claims on multiple grounds including that SMART's Patent Application No. 2006/0117152 invalidates claims. SMART believes that its '152 application shows that SMART engineers invented "rank multiplication" technology in 2003. As SMART's '152 application was filed before the Netlist's '912 Patent, SMART believes that Netlist is not entitled to the '912 patent.

As indicated previously, Google, Inc. and Inphi Corporation have both been sued by Netlist for potentially infringing the '912 patent, which Netlist refers to as enabling HyperCloud Memory. Google is using the SMART '152 patent application in its defense.

Iain MacKenzie, President and CEO of SMART, commented that "We are very pleased that the USPTO has adopted our arguments and has initially rejected nearly all of Netlist's '912 patent claims. We remain committed to our strategy of developing and protecting leading edge technology that can be commercialized in significant applications."