U.S. Patent Office Limits the Scope of Lexar Patent; The Decision Has No Bearing On SanDisk's Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Lexar Regarding Sandisk's U.S. Patent No. 5,602,987

Business Wire, Nov 9, 1999

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 1999--

SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) said today that a decision by the U.S. Patent Office limits the scope of a patent held by Lexar Media, Inc., and has no bearing on the current patent infringement litigation initiated by SanDisk against Lexar in March of 1998.

Four years ago, the U.S. Patent Office declared a conflict (interference) between Lexar's U.S. Patent No. 5,388,083 and a SanDisk patent application. At issue was whether claims of the Lexar `083 patent were disclosed by the earlier patent application filed by SanDisk.

At the request of SanDisk, the U.S. Patent Office limited the scope of the claims of the Lexar `083 patent, such that they do not conflict (interfere) with the prior SanDisk patent application. SanDisk is pleased with the narrowed scope of the `083 patent claims.

Eli Harari, president and CEO of SanDisk, said, "Lexar is engaging in misleading public relations statements. The decision of the U.S. Patent Office is completely unrelated and irrelevant to the patent infringement lawsuit that SanDisk filed against Lexar in March, 1998, relating to SanDisk's U.S. patent 5,602,987. SanDisk continues to vigorously enforce its patent rights in federal court, in the Northern District of California. SanDisk remains confident that its patent rights will be validated in this case. The decision cited by Lexar in its press release was not a court decision. There has never been any litigation between SanDisk and Lexar regarding the Lexar `083 patent."

SanDisk Corporation, the world's largest supplier of flash data storage products, designs, manufactures and markets industry-standard, solid-state data, digital imaging and audio storage products using its patented, high density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is based in Sunnyvale, CA.