Yangtze Memory wins German patent battle, Munich court issues injunction against Micron

Important progress has been made in the global 3D NAND patent war between Chinese memory giant Yangtze Memory Corporation (YMTC) and the US Micron (Micron). Foreign media reported that the Munich court in Germany determined that Micron infringed two German utility models of Yangtze Memory and issued an injunction requiring it to stop selling the products involved in the case in Germany.

According to reports, this is the first time Yangtze Memory has won an injunction with substantial market binding force since it launched a global 3D NAND patent war with Micron in November 2023. Currently, there are still three German cases that have not yet made substantive judgments. In this regard, Micron has appealed and stated that it will challenge the validity of the rights; whether the injunction will be implemented depends on whether the High District Court decides whether to suspend it.

According to the patent litigation media "ip fray", the 7th Civil Chamber of the First District Court of Munich made a favorable judgment on September 18 against two German rights filed by Yangtze River Memory, which respectively involved the "ladder structure of three-dimensional storage devices" and the "barrier layer of 3D NAND word line contact" technology. The court issued two injunctions to Micron based on this; the other three lawsuits filed in Munich have yet to make substantive decisions.

However, this does not mean that all Micron memory products are completely banned in Germany. This ban targets specific 3D NAND products that are found to involve relevant rights, and the case still has follow-up judicial proceedings. IP fray pointed out that unless the Munich Higher Regional Court suspends execution during the appeal process, the relevant ban may soon enter the execution stage. Micron said it disagreed with the verdict and would appeal and continue to challenge the validity of relevant rights.

The report pointed out that this dispute is not limited to Germany. Documents submitted by Micron to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that Yangtze Memory has filed multiple patent infringement lawsuits against Micron and its subsidiaries in jurisdictions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Unified Patent Court. Five of these cases in Munich involve specific 3D NAND products.

The patent war between the two parties can be traced back to November 2023. Yangtze Memory sued Micron in the Northern District of California Federal Court for infringement of eight U.S. patents by some of its 3D NAND products, and then further expanded the scope of the lawsuit. Micron challenged the validity of Yangtze Memory's patents through the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board and other procedures, gradually expanding the dispute from a single market to a transnational patent attack and defense.

The importance of this German judgment lies in the fact that Yangtze Memory no longer just seeks damages, but also obtains injunctive tools that may directly restrict the sales of competitors' products. If the ban is ultimately upheld, it will increase Yangtze Memory's leverage in subsequent global 3D NAND patent negotiations and litigation; however, this patent war is far from over until Micron's appeal and related rights validity disputes are concluded.