Agreement reached with Sandisk; M-Systems expects FTL to be adopted as PCMCIA standard.TEL AVIV Tel Aviv (tĕl əvēv`), city (1994 pop. 355,200), W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Oficially named Tel Aviv–Jaffa, it is Israel's commercial, financial, communications, and cultural center and the core of its largest , Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 1995--M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on Symbol: FLSHF) announced today that it has reached an agreement with SanDisk Corporation settling the dispute between them. As a result of the settlement, the Company expects (although no assurance can be given) that PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, San Jose, CA, www.pcmcia.org) An international standards body and trade association that was founded in 1989 to establish a standard for connecting peripherals to portable computers. PCMCIA created the PC Card. See PC Card. (the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (body, hardware, standard) Personal Computer Memory Card International Association - (PCMCIA, or "PC Card") An international trade association and the standards they have developed for devicies, such as modems and external hard disk drives, that can be plugged into notebook ) will adopt the FTL (Flash Translation Layer) See flash memory. standard proposed by the Company as part of PCMCIA's PC Card standard. As previously reported by the Company, prior to the expected adoption of the FTL standard by PCMCIA in February 1995, SanDisk (formerly "SanDisk") had alleged that its patents may apply to the proposed Flashfile Systems section of the PC Card Standard, which included the proposed FTL standard. In consequence of this assertion by SanDisk, and without expressing any opinion as to the validity of the claim, the PCMCIA Board of Directors elected to withdraw the Flashfile Systems section of the PC Card Standard until the parties resolve the issue among themselves. Although the Company and its attorneys believed -- and continue to believe -- that there is absolutely no basis to any assertion of patent infringement patent infringement n. the manufacture and/or use of an invention or improvement for which someone else owns a patent issued by the government, without obtaining permission of the owner of the patent by contract, license or waiver. by SanDisk, the Company entered into negotiations with SanDisk to attempt to resolve the dispute on an amicable am·i·ca·ble adj. Characterized by or exhibiting friendliness or goodwill; friendly. [Middle English, from Late Latin am basis and thus to enable the FTL standard to be formally adopted as soon as possible. The companies have now agreed that M-Systems will remove the erase count feature from the proposed FTL standard, and SanDisk will send a letter to PCMCIA stating that it is not aware of any other features of the revised FTL which may infringe its current patents. M-Systems would like to emphasize that the erase count was removed in order to reach a settlement, without any acknowledgment by M-Systems that the erase count feature infringed any SanDisk patent, and that the erase count (which was always optional to the proposed standard) is not necessary to properly or effectively utilize the FTL standard as M-Systems currently implements a different -- and improved -- method of wear-leveling. M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers develops, manufactures and markets Flash disk solutions -- data storage media based on Flash memory. CONTACT: M-Systems Dana Gross, 408/654-5820 |
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