Korea's top research university files a patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm.
KAIST IP brings Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm to the U.S. court once again. The outfit is the licensing arm of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

In 2016, KAIST IP filed a patent lawsuit against Samsung, Qaulcomm and GlobalFoundries, claiming that the three infringed on its patent. Last year, Samsung was ruled to pay $400 million.

The other two defendants of Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries were also found to have violated the patent but they were not told to pay damages.

The dispute is about technology called FinFet, a transistor that improve performances and decrease power consumption. The features are indispensable to roll out very small and thin chips.

The technology is significant for non-memory chips called mobile application processors, which support applications running in a mobile operating system environment.

Most Samsung smartphones and tablets are known to employ the technology, according to the plaintiff.

Qualcomm is the world’s leading maker of chips used in phones and is a major customer of Samsung Electronics.

“The patent at issue is the same one for which the U.S. court ruled in favor of KAIST IP, which argues that Samsung continues to use the technology,” said a source familiar with the issue.

“Hence, KAIST IP seems to be sure of winning the lawsuit this time again. If so, observers expect that the amount would be bigger than $400 million.”

When contacted, KAIST IP refused to make any comments. An official of the entity only said that it lodged the lawsuit in February, noting that “we have no idea when the court will come up with a verdict.”

Samsung Electronics counters that it used a different technology and will prove it through the lawsuit.

KAIST is located in Korea but KAIST IP is headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas. It filed the suit in Marshall, Texas, a venue regarded friendly to patent owners.

Seoul-based Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of memory chips and smartphones.

 
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