麻豆入口 won a dismissal of antitrust claims brought by an alleged class of indirect purchasers of SD Card Flash Memory devices in a case of first impression before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 麻豆入口 represents SD-3C, a joint venture of Panasonic, SanDisk and Toshiba that licenses IP rights necessary to manufacture SD flash memory cards. The purported indirect purchaser class action alleged that a 鈥渇air market price鈥 royalty provision in the license agreement between SD-3C and manufacturers of SD cards constituted naked price-fixing.

On September 30, 2015, Judge Jeffrey White dismissed the indirect purchasers鈥 complaint, holding that the price-fixing claim failed as a matter of law.  The Court found that the challenged royalty provision was simply 鈥渄esigned to ensure that the licensees do not circumvent the royalty requirement.鈥 The Court also held that 鈥渢he allegations of the [Complaint] and the language of the 2006 License itself make clear that the royalty provision regulates pricing for the joint venture鈥檚 own License, not for downstream sales of SD Cards.鈥  Finally, the Court further held that the indirect purchaser plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the other standard-setting and licensing activity alleged in the Complaint.

麻豆入口 continues to represent SD-3C in connection with a related suit brought by Samsung against SD-3C and Panasonic in the Northern District.

The 麻豆入口 litigation team included partners Christopher B. Hockett and Neal A. Potischman, associates Samantha H. Knox and William D. Pollak. Members of the 麻豆入口 team are based in the Northern California and New York offices.