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The Intellectual Property Court’s Interim Judgment Rules Against Taiwan’s NAND Flash Makers for Patent Infringement
In a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Toshiba Corporation against four Taiwan companies, the Taiwan IP Court rendered an interim judgment (No. 2014-Ming-Zhuan-Su-48) in October 2015, holding that three of the asserted infringing products manufactured and/or sold by the defendants (Model Nos. A5U1GA31ATS-BC, A5U2GA31BTS-BC, and A5U4GA31ATS-BC) had infringed upon Toshiba's patents. The IP Court also affirmed that Toshiba's patents should be valid.
Toshiba filed this lawsuit based on two Taiwan invention patents, Patent No. 154717 and Patent No. I238412. In the interim judgment, the IP Court concluded that the technical means, functions and results of the above three NAND flash memory products are substantially identical to the asserted claims of the said patent, and hence infringement is found under the doctrine of equivalents. In addition, the Court determined according to the technical features stated in the datasheets of the concerned three products that these products constitute literal infringement on the asserted claims of Patent No. I238412.
The case is currently in the phase of determining damages.