DRAM Vendor Nanya Retaliates Against Elpida in Patent Infringement Case

Nanya is accusing Elpida of infringing on four of its U.S. patents. The Taiwanese chipmaker has requested an exclusion order barring the import of Elpida DRAM and products containing Elpida DRAM into the U.S., along with a cease and desist order banning the sale of Elpida DRAM products already on the U.S. market.

As is the case with many patent infringement suits, Nanya’s complaint will escalate an already-raging legal battle. The Taiwanese vendor’s allegations come on the heels of Elpida’s accusation earlier this month, claiming Nanya had infringed on seven of its patents. Elpida’s claims were filed through the ITC as well, and a halt on Nanya’s U.S. imports was also sought.

Nanya has stressed its investments within the DRAM and memory space, and says it will take all steps necessary to protect its intellectual property and R&D efforts.

"We have invested tremendous resources in DRAM R&D since the company was founded in 1995," said Dr. Pei-Lin Pai, Nanya Technology vice president of global sales and marketing, in a statement. "Over the course of the past few years, we have also significantly expanded our intellectual property portfolio. Nanya Technology has always respected intellectual property rights, and we expect other companies to respect our intellectual property. Nanya Technology will not hesitate to take any action necessary to enforce the company’s rights against those who infringe our patents."

DRAM, a type of memory commonly seen in desktop PCs, has a taken an industry-wide hit this year due to the rising popularity of ultrabooks and cloud computing. As a result, industry analyst IHS iSuppli has scaled-back its 2011 yearly growth forecast for DRAM usage in notebooks from 31 percent to 25 percent.

Slowed DRAM growth, IHS reported, is expected to continue over the next four years.