Netlist Inc. (OTC: NLST) shares took a hit Wednesday after a federal appeals court upheld an earlier administrative ruling that invalidated claims of one of its memory patents. The stock closed down 22.26% at $5.17, according to market data.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision that all challenged claims of Netlist's U.S. Patent No. 10,949,339 were unpatentable as obvious. This wasn't a new PTAB finding; rather, the Federal Circuit rejected Netlist's appeal and left the board's earlier determination in place.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) remained the sole appellee after Samsung Electronics Co. (OTC: SSNLF) settled with Netlist and withdrew from the appeal.
Here's the important context: this ruling is about one patent, and it doesn't touch the bigger battles Netlist is fighting. The decision does not address the separate patents underlying Netlist's $445 million damages award against Micron or its recently filed International Trade Commission action. So while the news is a setback, it's not the whole war.
