SanDisk & Ritek Sign License Agreement

MILPITAS, Calif. and HSIN-CHU, Taiwan -- SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) and Ritek Corporation today announced the settlement of their patent litigation. The companies entered into a royalty bearing patent cross-license agreement and SanDisk agreed to dismiss all current patent infringement litigation against Ritek.

We are very happy to sign a cross-license agreement with each other and reach a win-win solution between both parties,” said Eric Ai, Deputy Announcer of Ritek. “We are now the only Taiwanese manufacturer of flash cards, USB flash drives and storage systems that is licensed by SanDisk. SanDisk’s valuable intellectual property umbrella will enable further growth of our business. Our customers can use Ritek flash cards and USB drives with certainty that there will be no downstream interruption from SanDisk.”

E. Earle Thompson, SanDisk’s Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, said, “This cross license is a significant step in ensuring that SanDisk’s extensive card and storage system patents are respected globally. We are pleased with Ritek’s decision to be the first Taiwanese manufacturer to take our new non-volatile memory system license agreement. Consistent with our longstanding licensing policy, we will license other manufacturers of flash cards, USB flash drives and storage systems, while vigorously pursuing parties that infringe or contribute to the infringement of our Intellectual Property.”

SanDisk Corp.