SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Spansion Inc. , one of the world's largest providers of Flash memory solutions, today announced it has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Macronix International and Macronix America in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. The lawsuit for willful violation of the Federal Lanham Act requests that Macronix cease and desist its false statements about being an authorized second source for, and fully compatible with, Spansion's MirrorBit(TM) Flash memory products, forfeit its ill-gotten gains; and pay over $100 million to Spansion in damages for the improper use of the Spansion MirrorBit brand to market Macronix Flash memory products.
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"Spansion has invested hundreds of millions of dollars over eight years to develop MirrorBit products, and has established the MirrorBit brand as a high-quality, highly reliable Flash memory technology," said Robert Melendres, executive vice president and general counsel for Spansion. "By making false statements about Spansion's MirrorBit brand, and illegally using Spansion's valuable trademark to market its products, Macronix has diluted our brand and caused confusion in the market place."
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that:
-- Macronix has deceived customers into believing Macronix is an
authorized second source for Spansion MirrorBit when they are not;
-- Macronix is deliberately and falsely marketing its Flash memory devices
as interchangeable and fully compatible with Spansion MirrorBit
products when they are not;
-- Macronix has illegally reaped millions of dollars in revenues;
-- Macronix has degraded the MirrorBit brand by falsely using it to market
products that do not meet Spansion's standards of quality, performance
and reliability.
"It is important that Spansion protect the distinctive MirrorBit brand so that it continues to represent the highest quality, performance and reliability in the marketplace, based on Spansion IP," said Melendres. "We therefore intend to protect the value of our trademarked MirrorBit brand."
About Spansion
Spansion is a leading Flash memory solutions provider, dedicated to enabling, storing and protecting digital content in the wireless, automotive, networking and consumer electronics markets. Spansion, previously a joint venture of AMD and Fujitsu, is the largest company in the world dedicated exclusively to developing, designing, and manufacturing Flash memory products and systems. For more information, visit http://www.spansion.com/.
NOTE: Spansion, the Spansion logo, MirrorBit, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Spansion LLC. Other names used are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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