In another case involving technology developed by a university, on 5 August 2024, Harvard University filed a complaint against Samsung before the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleging patent infringement (available here). According to the complaint, the Asserted Patents (US Patent Nos. 7,973,189 and 7,560,581) “include, for example, novel processes and materials for deposition of thin films that contain cobalt or tungsten metals. Such films are essential to key components of numerous products such as computers and cell phones”. The processes Samsung uses to manufacture products such as microprocessors and memory, which “are incorporated into computing, consumer, enterprise, networking, mobile, and automotive products, and are offered for sale, sold, and used throughout the United States”, use deposition processes and materials claimed by the Asserted Patents, and therefore, infringe them.
Harvard requests both damages and a permanent injunction against continued acts of infringement of the Asserted Patents.