Mimir IP, a South Korean patent management company, bought around 1,500 chip-related patents from SK hynix in May. They have now filed a lawsuit against the U.S. memory company Micron, accusing it of using these patents without permission, TrendForce reported. If Mimir wins, they could get up to USD 480 million in damages. The lawsuit, filed on June 3, also targets Tesla, Dell, HP, and Lenovo for using Micron’s products. The patents in question are related to circuits, voltage measurement devices, and non-volatile memory devices.
The case is being heard in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the US International Trade Commission. This is the first time a South Korean company that acquired patents from domestic chipmakers has filed a lawsuit against a US semiconductor company. Officials from the involved companies have not commented. Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix have been changing how they deal with their patents recently, so this is not really a surprise move. In March 2023, Micron transferred over 400 chip-related patents to Lodestar Licensing Group. In June 2023, Samsung transferred 96 US chip patents, including the right to file patent infringement complaints, to IKT, an affiliate of Samsung Display.