Press release dated June 25, 2019

On June 7, 2019, the Mannheim District Court dismissed a patent infringement complaint brought by Innovative Memory Systems Inc (IMS), a subsidiary of the Canadian non-practicing entity WiLAN, against Micron Semiconductor (Deutschland) GmbH and Micron Europe Limited regarding European Patent 1 570 489 (docket no. 7 O 75/18). The infringement proceedings before the Regional Court of Mannheim are part of a wider complex of patent disputes between WiLAN and Micron currently pending before US Courts.

Micron, a global company providing memory and storage solutions, was sued in 2018 by IMS in Germany based on a patent, which provides management of non-volatile memories by shifting zone boundaries in case of defective blocks. IMS alleged Micron to infringe the patent-in-suit by certain Solid-State Drives (SSD) using Micron's innovative RAIN technology and filed requests for injunction, recall and destruction, information and damages. Micron filed a request for dismissal of the infringement complaint and a nullity complaint against the patent-in-dispute with the German Federal Patent Court, the latter still pending there.

Following an oral hearing on May 10, 2019, the seventh Chamber at the Mannheim District Court dismissed the complaint in full and IMS was ordered to bear the costs of the proceedings based on a value in litigation of EUR 5 million. The decision is open to appeal.

Representatives of Micron: BARDEHLE PAGENBERG (Munich)
Prof. Dr. Tilman Müller-Stoy (Attorney-at-Law, Partner)
Tobias Kaufmann (German and European Patent Attorney, Partner)
Dr. Anna Giedke (Attorney-at-Law)
Anita Peter (Attorney-at-Law)
Daniel Werner (Patent Engineer)
Supporting UK counsel: Carpmaels & Ransford
Chris Tunstall (European Patent Attorney, Partner)

Representatives of Innovative Memory Systems:
Pinsent Masons Germany (Munich)
Dr. Michael Schneider (Attorney-at-Law)
Dr. Peter Koch (Attorney-at-Law)
Wachenhausen & Kollegen (Munich)
Marc Wachenhausen (German and European Patent Attorney)
Benjamin Bubendorfer (German and European Patent Attorney)

Mannheim District Court (Seventh Chamber):
Presiding Judge Dr. Tochtermann, Judge Lehmeyer and Judge Dr. Alles