Commitments and Contingencies | Note 7—Commitments and Contingencies Contingent Legal Expenses We may retain the services of law firms that specialize in patent licensing and enforcement and patent law in connection with our licensing and enforcement activities. These law firms may be retained on a contingent fee basis whereby such law firms are paid on a scaled percentage of any negotiated fee, settlements or judgments awarded based on how and when the fees, settlements or judgments are obtained. Litigation and Patent Reexaminations We own numerous patents and continue to seek to grow and strengthen our patent portfolio, which covers various aspects of our innovations and includes various claim scopes. We plan to pursue avenues to monetize our intellectual property portfolio, in which we would generate revenue by selling or licensing our technology, and we intend to vigorously enforce our patent rights against alleged infringers of such rights. We dedicate substantial resources to protecting and enforcing our intellectual property rights, including with patent infringement proceedings we file against third parties and defense of our patents against challenges made by way of reexamination and review proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). We expect these activities to continue for the foreseeable future, with no guarantee that any ongoing or future patent protection or litigation activities will be successful, or that we will be able to monetize our intellectual property portfolio. Any litigation, regardless of its outcome, is inherently uncertain, involves a significant dedication of resources, including time and capital, and diverts management’s attention from our other activities. As a result, any current or future claims, allegations, or challenges by or against third parties, whether eventually decided in our favor or settled, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, the outcome of pending or future litigation and/or related patent reviews and reexaminations, as well as any delay in their resolution, could affect our ability to continue to sell our products, protect against competition in the current and expected markets for our products or license or otherwise monetize our intellectual property rights in the future. Google Litigations On December 4, 2009, Netlist filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Google, Inc. (“Google”) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (the “NDCA”), seeking damages and injunctive relief based on Google’s alleged infringement of our U.S. Patent No. 7,619,912 (the “‘912 Patent”) which relates generally to technologies to implement rank multiplication. The NDCA case was stayed, pending challenges to the ‘912 Patent before the USPTO. Eventually, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit confirmed the ‘912 Patent’s validity on June 15, 2020, and the NDCA case stay was lifted and the case proceeded before Hon. Senior Judge Armstrong, where the parties entered cross motions for summary judgment. On May 5, 2022, Hon. Chief Judge Seeborg entered an Order granting Netlist’s Motion for Summary Judgement that Claim 16 of the ‘912 Patent is not subject to Google’s pleaded defense of Intervening Rights. On July 13, 2022, Chief Judge Seeborg ordered – shortly before the planned July 14, 2022 case management conference – that the case be stayed for a 90-day period pending the outcome of an action initiated by Samsung Electronic Co., Ltd. (“Samsung”) in Delaware involving the ‘912 Patent. Samsung’s Delaware cause of action for the ‘912 Patent was dismissed by Judge Andrews there, and Netlist shortly thereafter brought a lawsuit against Samsung for their infringement of at least the ‘912 Patent in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (“EDTX”). In light of the pendency of the ‘912 Patent matter Netlist brought against Samsung in EDTX, Chief Judge Seeborg entered an order via stipulation on October 17, 2022 staying the NDCA Google case until the resolution of that EDTX action. On July 26, 2022, Netlist filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Google Cloud EMEA Limited, Google Germany GmbH, Redtec Computing GmbH, and Google, Inc., seeking damages based on those defendants’ infringement of European Patents EP 2,454,735 (“EP735”) and EP 3,404,660 (“EP660”), which both generally relate to load reduced dual in line memory modules (“LRDIMM”) technologies. As of the reporting date, Google’s submitted its statement of defense. The date for a final oral hearing on the issues in that German action are currently scheduled for November 9, 2023. Micron Litigations On April 28, 2021, Netlist filed a complaint for patent infringement against Micron Technology, Inc. (“Micron”) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division (“WDTX”) (Case No. 6:21-cv00431 & Case No. 6:21-cv-00430). These proceedings are based on the alleged infringement by Micron’s LRDIMM and Micron’s non-volatile dual in line memory modules (“NVDIMM”) enterprise memory modules under four U.S. patents – U.S. Patent Nos. 10,489,314 (the “’314 Patent”), 9,824,035 (the “’035 Patent”), 10,268,608 (the “’608 Patent”), and 8,301,833 (the “’833 Patent”). The case has been assigned to Hon. Judge Lee Yeakel, and the parties completed briefing on their claim construction arguments. On May 11, 2022, Judge Yeakel entered a stay of the case pending the resolution of Micron’s requested Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) proceedings against the four patents asserted by Netlist in this case (the ‘833, ‘035, ‘608, and ‘314 Patents). Following entry of that stay order on September 2, 2022, Micron moved the Court to “temporarily” lift the stay to add counterclaims for declaratory judgment of noninfringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 9,858,215 (the “’215 Patent”), 10,860,506 (the “’506 Patent”), 10,949,339 (the “’339 Patent”), 11,016,918 (the “’918 Patent”), 11,232,054 (the “’054 Patent”), 11,093,417 (the “’417 Patent”), and the ‘912 Patent. This addition would encompass four of the six patents asserted in Netlist’s initial EDTX filing against Micron (Case No. 2:22-cv-00203 – further details of this case below), and all three of the patents asserted in Netlist’s second EDTX filing against Micron (Case No. 2:22-cv-00294 – further details of this case below). On October 5, 2022, Judge Yeakel denied Micron’s motion and returned the action to a stayed state, asking only that the parties submit status reports within 10 days of any activity in the relevant underlying IPR proceedings. As of the reporting date, the matter remains stayed pending the outcome of the related IPR proceedings. As noted above, Micron filed requests to bring IPR proceedings against Netlist’s ‘314, ‘035, ‘068, and ‘833 Patents. As of the reporting date, the PTAB granted Micron’s request for the ‘035, ‘833, and ‘314 Patents, but denied its request for the ‘608 Patent. The PTAB further denied Micron’s request for rehearing on the ‘608 Patent’s institution denial. As of the reporting date, the IPR trials under the ‘035, ‘833, and ‘314 Patents are proceeding following Netlist’s timely submissions of its related Patent Owner Responses. Oral arguments for the ‘035, ‘833, and ‘314 Patents are set for April, June, and August 2023, respectively. On March 31, 2022, Netlist filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Micron in Germany (“Micron Dusseldorf Case”), seeking damages based on their infringement of EP735 and EP660. On June 24, 2022, Netlist filed an extension of its Complaint requesting injunctive relief. Micron filed its statement of defense, thus setting Netlist’s deadline for a response as December 1, 2022. Further, Micron initiated a nullity proceeding against the asserted EP patents in this action, making Netlist’s response to the same as November 19, 2022. As of the reporting date, the date for the oral hearing in the Micron Dusseldorf Case is set for May 3, 2023. 2022, Micron moved to withdraw its motion to stay in this action, which Chief Judge Gilstrap entered on October 13, 2022. On October 21, 2022, Chief Judge Gilstrap ordered that this Micron action and a parallel action by Netlist against Samsung on the same patents (22-cv-00293-JRG) be consolidated and set for a joint scheduling conference on November 17, 2022, further instructing that the Samsung action be considered the “LEAD CASE” and that any further filings from either action be submitted in that case for all pretrial matters. As of the reporting date, the consolidated case stands ready to proceed with a claim construction hearing set for October 5, 2023, and trial beginning on April 15, 2024. Samsung Litigations On May 28, 2020, Netlist filed a complaint against Samsung in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for Samsung’s breach of the parties’ Joint Development and License Agreement (“JDLA”). On July 22, 2020, Netlist amended its complaint to seek a Declaratory Judgment that it properly terminated the JDLA in light of Samsung’s material breaches. On October 14, 2021, the Court entered summary judgment in Netlist’s favor and confirmed Netlist properly terminated the JDLA as of July 15, 2020. On February 15, 2022, the Court entered a Final Judgment in favor of Netlist on each of its three claims and confirmed conclusively that all licenses granted under the JDLA were terminated. On February 25, 2022, Samsung filed a Notice of Appeal, and the Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a Time Schedule Order on February 28, 2022. On August 4, 2022, Netlist filed a cross-appeal seeking the Appeal Court’s reconsideration of the District Court’s finding that the fees Netlist paid to PwC were consequential damages, rather than recoverable general damages. As of the reporting date, the parties have completed briefing on the appeal and cross-appeal, and await the Appeal Court setting a date for oral argument in 2023. On October 15, 2021, Samsung filed a declaratory judgement action against Netlist in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (“DDE”), requesting in relevant part that the Delaware District Court declare that Samsung does not infringe Netlist’s U.S. Patent Nos. 9,858,218 (the “’218 Patent”), 10,217,523 (the “’523 Patent”), 10,474,595 (the “’595 Patent”), and the ‘506, ‘339, ‘912 and ‘918 Patents. As of the reporting date, Samsung seeks leave to add the ‘054 Patent (issued Jan. 25, 2022) to the action. Netlist believes Samsung’s claims levied in the DDE action meritless, and the relief Samsung requests unjustified. Netlist filed a motion seeking dismissal of Samsung’s operative DDE complaint, and an opposition contesting the inclusion of the ‘054 Patent as part of Samsung’s proposed second amended complaint filing. On August 1, 2022, the Court entered an Order on the pending motions denying Samsung’s request to amend its operative complaint a second time to add a count against the ‘054 Patent, and granting-in-part Netlist’s motion that various causes of action be dismissed. Specifically, Hon. Judge Andrews dismissed all of Samsung’s counts related to Netlist’s ‘912, ‘506, ‘339, and ‘918 Patents. Thus, on August 22, 2022, Netlist entered its Answer to Samsung’s remaining Counterclaims. On September 12, 2022, Netlist amended its Counterclaims to include counterclaims tying Google, LLC and Alphabet, Inc. to the action. On November 15, 2022, Google, LLC and Alphabet, Inc. responded to Netlist’s Counterclaims by filing a Motion to Dismiss or alternatively to Sever and Stay the claims directed at Google specifically from the action. As of the reporting date, briefing has concluded and Netlist requested an oral argument on Google’s motion. Further, the Court set the Claim Construction hearing for October 20, 2023, and the beginning of the Jury Trial on February 3, 2025. On November 19, 2021, Samsung filed IPR requests contesting the validity of U.S. Patent Nos. 9,858,218 (the “’218 Patent”), 10,474,595 (the “’595 Patent”), and 10,217,523 (the “’523 Patent”). Netlist filed its initial responses to Samsung’s petitions on February 18, 2022, contesting the institution of any IPR on the grounds propounded. As of the reporting date, the PTAB has granted Samsung’s IPR requests related to the ‘218, ‘523, and ‘595 Patents. Netlist filed its Patent Owner’s Response for the ‘523 Patent IPR on August 4, 2022, and its Patent Owner Responses for the ‘218 Patent and ’595 Patent IPRs on August 15, 2022. As of the reporting date, Oral Arguments were heard for the ‘523 IPR (February 1, 2023), and the ‘218 Patent and ‘595 Patent IPRs (February 15, 2023), leaving the PTAB to enter its final written decision on all three IPRs by the second quarter of 2023. On December 20, 2021, Netlist filed a complaint for patent infringement against Samsung, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc., and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. in the EDTX (Case No. 2:21-cv-463) under the ‘506, ‘339, and ‘918 Patents. Samsung responded to Netlist’s complaint on April 12, 2022, and Chief Judge Gilstrap ordered a scheduling conference be set. On May 3, 2022, Netlist entered a First Amended Complaint pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”) Rule 15, adding claims for infringement under three additional patents: the ‘060, ‘160, and ‘054 Patents. On May 4, 2022, Netlist complied with the EDTX local patent rules and served its preliminary infringement contentions on Samsung. On May 27, 2022, Samsung moved to stay this action and sever the patents it sought to add to its Declaratory Judgement action in Delaware. On August 2, 2022, Samsung withdrew that first motion to stay in light of Judge Andrews’s order mandating dismissal of all Samsung’s claims related to the Texas Netlist patents the day before. On August 30, 2022 Samsung moved to stay the action a second time, this time in light of its IPR petitions, and its appeal of the Central District California Judgment at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The matter was fully briefed as of October 17, 2022. As of the reporting date, the claim construction hearing took place on November 4, 2022 in Hon. Magistrate Judge Roy Payne’s Court. On December 14, 2022, Magistrate Payne entered an order construing all fourteen claim terms in dispute. As of the reporting date, the matter is set for pretrial proceedings. The Final Pretrial Conference is currently set for March 27, 2023, while the trial start is now set for April 17, 2023. On February 17, 2022, Samsung filed an IPR request contesting the validity of only claim 16 within the ‘912 Patent. Samsung then filed two additional IPR requests contesting the validity of the ‘506 and ‘339 Patents. Netlist filed its Patent Owner’s Preliminary Response for the ‘912 and ‘339 Patent IPRs on July 21, 2022, and for the ‘506 Patent IPR on July 28, 2022. On January 19, 2023, the PTAB instituted IPR trials on both the ‘912 and ‘339 Patents. The following day, the PTAB instituted an IPR trial on the ‘506 Patent. On October 19, 2022, the PTAB instituted IPR trials on the ‘912 Patent and ‘339 Patent, while two days later it instituted an IPR trial on the ’506 Patent. On November 2, 2022, Netlist file a Request for Rehearing for the ‘912 Patent institution decision, while simultaneously requesting review of the institution decision be undertaken by the USPTO’s Precedential Opinion Panel. On January 5, 2023, USPTO Director Katherine K. Vidal entered an Order in the proceeding mandating a sua sponte On May 17, 2022, Samsung filed two IPR petitions contesting the validity of Netlist’s ‘918 and ‘054 Patents. On December 6, 2022, the Board instituted an IPR trial for the ‘054 Patent, and then instituted an IPR trial for the ‘918 Patent the next day. On December 9, 2022, the Board set a joint schedule for both IPRs, making Netlist’s deadline to file its Patent Owner Response March 1, 2023. On June 3, 2022, Netlist filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung in Dusseldorf, Germany, seeking damages for Samsung’s infringement of Netlist’s Patents EP735 and EP660. The Dusseldorf Court set an Oral Hearing date for September 5, 2023. On August 1, 2022, Netlist filed a complaint for patent infringement against Samsung, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc., and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. in the EDTX (Case No. 2:22-cv-00293) under the ‘912 Patent, which relates generally to technologies to implement rank multiplication. On August 15, 2022, Netlist filed its first amended complaint here, further addressing Samsung’s infringement of the ‘215 Patent and ‘417 Patent. On August 31, 2022, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. sought and received extensions of time to respond to Netlist’s first amended complaint until October 7, 2022. Before answering on September 20, 2022, Samsung collectively moved the Court to sever and transfer the ‘912 Patent from the action and stay the remaining portions of this proceeding in light of Samsung’s appeal before 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The matter is fully briefed, but Samsung’s response deadline remains currently set for November 29, 2022. Apart from Samsung’s early motion practice and its remaining response deadline, on October 21, 2022, Chief Judge Gilstrap ordered that this action and a parallel action by Netlist against Micron on the same patents (22-cv-00294-JRG) be consolidated and set for a joint scheduling conference on November 17, 2022, further instructing that this Samsung action be considered the “LEAD CASE” and that any further filings from either action be submitted in therefore all pretrial matters. On January 20, 2023, following the entry of Samsung’s First Amended Answer, Netlist moved the Court for Leave to File a Second Amended Complaint that would include additional claims of infringement related specifically to Samsung’s infringement of Netlist’s ‘608 Patent. As of the reporting date, the consolidated case stands ready to proceed with a claim construction hearing set for October 5, 2023, and trial beginning on April 15, 2024. On August 26, 2022, Samsung filed two IPR petitions contesting the validity of Netlist’s U.S. Patent Nos. 8,787,060 (the “’060 Patent”) and 9,318,160 (the “’106 Patent”). On January 19, 2023, Netlist filed its Patent Owner Preliminary Responses in those proceedings. As of the reporting date, the parties await the Board’s decision on institution. On January 10, 2023, Samsung filed two IPR petitions contesting the validity of the ‘215 and ‘417 Patents. As of the reporting date, the Board has accorded these IPR a filing date of January 10, 2023, making the deadline for Netlist to file its Patent Owner Preliminary Response April 10, 2023. Other Contingent Obligations In the ordinary course of our business, we have made certain indemnities, commitments and guarantees pursuant to which we may be required to make payments in relation to certain transactions. These include, among others: (i) intellectual property indemnities to our customers and licensees in connection with the use, sale and/or license of our products; (ii) indemnities to vendors and service providers pertaining to claims based on our negligence or willful misconduct; (iii) indemnities involving the accuracy of representations and warranties in certain contracts; (iv) indemnities to our directors and officers to the maximum extent permitted under the laws of the State of Delaware; (v) indemnities to SVB pertaining to all obligations, demands, claims, and liabilities claimed or asserted by any other party in connection with transactions contemplated by the applicable investment or loan documents, as applicable; and (vi) indemnities or other claims related to certain real estate leases, under which we may be required to indemnify property owners for environmental and other liabilities or may face other claims arising from our use of the applicable premises. The duration of these indemnities, commitments and guarantees varies and, in certain cases, may be indefinite. The majority of these indemnities, commitments and guarantees do not provide for any limitation of the maximum potential for future payments we could be obligated to make. Historically, we have not been obligated to make significant payments as a result of these obligations, and no liabilities have been recorded for these indemnities, commitments and guarantees in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. |