This case was last updated from U.S. District Courts on 08/10/2021 at 09:16:33 (UTC).

Sonrai Memory Limited v. Western Digital Technologies, Inc

Case Summary

On June 11, 2021, Sonrai Memory Limited (“Sonrai” or “Plaintiff”), represented by Reza Mirzaie of Russ August and Kabat, filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Western Digital Corporation (“Western Digital” or “Defendant”), seeking injunctive relief, damages among other reliefs for alleged unlawful infringement of technology relating to improvements in charge pump circuits, and portable memory devices with both volatile and non-volatile memory. This case was filed in the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

Sonrai asserted that the Plaintiff is the legal owner by assignment of all rights, title and interest in numerous United States and foreign patents and applications including United States Patent No. 6,724,241, (“the ’241 Patent”), entitled “Variable Charge Pump Circuit with Dynamic Load.”, was duly and legally issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on April 20, 2004 and U.S. Patent No. 6,920,527, (“the ’527 Patent”) , entitled “Portable RAM drive.” was duly and legally issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on July 19, 2005, (collectively, the “Asserted Patents”).

In its complaint, the Plaintiff alleged that, “On information and belief, Defendant makes, uses, offers for sale, sells, and/or imports certain products and services, including without limitation products with SanDisk/Toshiba 64L 3D NAND flash chips, for example, the WD Ultrastar SN630 WUS3BA196C7P3E3 (“Accused Products”), that directly infringe, literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents, one or more claims of the ’241 Patent. Defendant also knowingly and intentionally induces infringement of one or more claims of the ’241 Patent in violation of 35 U.S.C. § 271(b). Through at least the filing and service of this Complaint, Defendant has had knowledge of the ’241 Patent and the infringing nature of the Accused Products. Despite this knowledge of the ’241 Patent, Defendant continues to actively encourage and instruct its customers and end users.”

The Plaintiff further alleged that, “Defendant has also infringed, and continues to infringe, one or more claims of the ’527 Patent by selling, offering for sale, or importing into the United States, the Accused Products, knowing that the Accused Products constitute a material part of the inventions claimed in the ’527 Patent, are especially made or adapted to infringe the ’527 Patent, and are not staple articles or commodities of commerce suitable for non-infringing use. Defendant has been, and currently is, contributorily infringing the ’527 Patent in violation of 35 U.S.C. §§ 271(c) and (f).”

There are two claims for relief laid down by the Plaintiff. The first claim deals with alleged infringement of ’241 Patent because by making, using, offering for sale, selling and/or importing into the United States the Accused Products, Defendant has allegedly injured the Plaintiff and is liable for infringement of the ’241 Patent pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 271. The second claim deals with alleged infringement of ’527 Patent because Defendant makes, uses, offers for sale, sells, and/or imports certain products and services, including without limitation SSDs having Marvell SSD Controllers, (“Accused Products”), that allegedly directly infringe, literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents, one or more claims of the ’527 Patent.

In its prayer for relief, the Plaintiff has requested the Court for permanent injunction prohibiting the Defendant from further acts of infringement of the Asserted Patents, a judgment and order requiring Defendant to pay Plaintiff its damages, costs, expenses, and pre-judgment and post-judgment interest along with accounting of damages, and to order the Defendant to pay the Plaintiff compulsory ongoing licensing fees, supplemental damages and costs of litigation.

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Case Details Parties Documents Dockets

Case Details

Case Number:
8:21-CV-01040

Filing Date:
06/11/2021

Case Status:
Pending - Other Pending

Case Type:

Intellectual Property - Patent

Court:
U.S. District Courts

Courthouse:
California Central District

Judge Details

Presiding Judge

Cormac J. Carney

Referral Judge

John D. Early

Party Details

Plaintiff and Counter Defendant

Sonrai Memory Limited

Defendants and Counter Claimants

Western Digital Corporation

Western Digital Technologies, Inc