Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—N.D. Cal.: PNY settles attempted monopolization claims against SanDisk in SD memory card market, (Sep 19, 2014)

By Linda O’Brien, J.D., LL.M.

The federal district court in San Francisco has approved a settlement between PNY Technologies and SanDisk, resolving PNY’s claims against SanDisk that it used its large share of the flash memory technology market to attempt to monopolize the market for secure digital (SD) flash memory cards (PNY Technologies, Inc. v. SanDisk Corporation, September 18, 2014, Orrick, W.).

PNY brought suit, alleging that SanDisk attempted to monopolize the flash memory systems product market for SD cards by entering into exclusive dealing arrangements with key retailers to preclude competitors from nearly half of the retail store distribution of SD cards. PNY was granted leave to amend its first amended complaint in January 2014, and SanDisk obtained a dismissal of PNY’s second amended complaint in April, 2014. PNY’s third amended complaint was dismissed in July 2014.

The parties filed a notice of settlement and stipulated request for dismissal with prejudice on September 10, 2014, stating that the parties had agreed to mediation, which resulted in a settlement agreement. Thus, pursuant to the notice, the case was dismissed with each party bearing its own costs.

The case is No. 3:11-cv-04689-WHO.

Attorneys: Michael S. Elkins, Thomas P. Lane, Erin R. Ranahan, and Drew A. Robertson (Winston & Strawn LLP) and Daniel B. Asimow (Arnold & Porter LLP) for PNY Technologies, Inc. Allen J. Ruby, David W. Hansen, James P. Schaeffer, James A. Keyte, and Michael Menitove (Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP) for SanDisk Corporation.

Companies: PNY Technologies, Inc.; SanDisk Corporation

Cases: Antitrust CaliforniaNews