Jury orders Toshiba to pay $380 million
Published: March 23, 2005, 8:15 PM PST
By Reuters
A jury on Wednesday found Toshiba liable for breach of fiduciary duty and theft of trade secrets and awarded more than $380 million in damages to Lexar Media, a maker of memory cards used in computers and digital cameras, the company said.
The California State Superior Court jury in San Jose also found that Toshiba`s actions support an award of punitive damages, which are yet to be decided, Lexar said.
Shares of Fremont, Calif.-based Lexar, which rose 5.7 percent to close at $3.17 on Nasdaq, were 48 percent higher at $4.68 in after hours trading.
The verdict ``holds Toshiba accountable for its conduct--building Lexar`s trust to acquire our technology and then betraying that trust to partner with our competitor and compete against us,`` Eric Whitaker, Lexar`s general counsel, said in a statement.
A Toshiba spokeswoman in Tokyo declined to comment on the ruling, saying the Japanese firm is still checking on details of the jury`s decision.
Lexar said it expects the court to rule on its separate claim for unfair competition as well as on anticipated post-trial motions shortly after a hearing currently scheduled for April 13.
Based on the jury`s verdict and findings, Lexar said it intends to ask the court for an injunction that bars the sale of Toshiba`s products in the United States, including Toshiba`s large and small block NAND flash chips, its CompactFlash, Secure Digital and xD Picture Card products.
Lexar`s case for patent infringement against Toshiba on more than 10 of its patents remains pending in Federal Court.
