OREANDA-NEWS. TOKYO-Toshiba Corporation (Tokyo: 6502) today announced that it has reached a settlement with Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. in connection of a civil lawsuit that Toshiba initiated against SK Hynix Inc. at the Tokyo District Court on March 13, 2014. Brought under Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act, the suit sought damages for the wrongful acquisition and use of proprietary Toshiba information on NAND flash memory, which Toshiba pioneered in 1987. As a result of the agreement reached today, Toshiba will withdraw the lawsuit in return for a settlement fee from SK Hynix. Toshiba will continue to respond resolutely to unfair competition, in order to maintain the advanced technical competence that is the source of its competitive strength.

SK Hynix is a long time supplier of DRAM to Toshiba, and a partner in MRAM development. In addition to settling the litigation, Toshiba and SK Hynix have agreed to expand their relationship by extending existing supply agreements for DRAM and patent cross licensing, and to start collaboration in the development of nano-imprint lithography (NIL), a candidate for next-generation lithography technology. This expanded collaborative relationship will further strengthen Toshiba’s position in the memory market.