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Samsung/Spansion settles
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Tuesday, June 21, 2011
South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will pay NOR flash memory vendor Spansion Inc. $150 million over five years as part of a seven-year patent cross licensing agreement that settles all ongoing litigation between the two companies, Spansion said Monday (June 20).
The agreement calls for Samsung to make an initial payment of $25 million in August, followed by 20 quarterly payments of $6.25 million starting in the fiscal fourth quarter, Spansion (Sunnyvale, Calif.) said. But the first $30 million of the payments will be wiped out by Spansion's purchase of Samsung's bankruptcy claim against Spansion, Spansion said.
Provided that a bankruptcy court approves the claim as requested, the purchase of Samsung's bankruptcy claim will enable Spansion to retire between 1.65 million and 1.85 million shares, the company said.
As part of the overall agreement, Samsung will pay Spansion $150 million over five years with an initial payment of $25 million due in August 2011 and 20 quarterly payments of $6.25 million starting in fiscal fourth quarter of 2011. In addition, Spansion has agreed to purchase Samsung's bankruptcy claim for $30 million, which Samsung has elected to apply against the first $30 million Samsung owes Spansion.
"After many years of disruptive court time, we were able to find a way to resolve our differences and reach agreement on balanced terms," said Seung Ho Ahn, executive vice president and the head of Samsung's corporate intellectual property center, in a statement.
The settlement covers all ongoing litigation and disputes between Samsung and Spansion, including their respective investigations with the U.S. International Trade Commission and litigation in other venues, Spansion said.
In an interview with EE Times Monday, Saied Tehrani, Spansion's chief technology officer, said Spansion is confident in its technology and won't make any changes based on the cross-licensing agreement with Spansion.
"We will continue doing our own things," Tehrani said. "We have the cross license if something comes up, but we don't intend to change any aspect of our technology going forward."
Samsung and Spansion filed several patent infringement complaints against one another starting in 2008, when Spansion filed a complaint against Samsung in the ITC and in U.S. federal court in Delaware. An ITC action filed by Spansion against Samsung was set to go to trial Monday.
In February, a preliminary ruling by an ITC administrative law judge found that Spansion. infringes on one patent held by Samsung. A final determination on that ruling was expected to be issued next week.
By: DocMemory
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