PNY and Sony are sued for copying products? This is not joking.

“Man bites dog” was surely a potential headline when it came to light in February that Netac Technology Co., a Shenzhen-based company, had become the first Chinese enterprise to sue a U.S. corporation for patent infringement—and was doing so in Texarkana, Texas.

Netac Technology (a company based in Shenzhen, China) sued PNY Technologies (a company based in Parsippany, New Jersey, USA) in a U.S. District Court (E.D. Tex) on February 16, 2006 for infringement of Netac’s flash memory patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,829,672.  Netac requested an injunction prohibiting PNY from producing or selling infringing flash memory disks, as well as damages as compensation for the previous infringement.  Netac had already won infringement cases against a number of Chinese companies, including Beijing Hua Qi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (Product brand: Aigo) and Shenzhen Fu Guang Hui Electronics Co., Ltd. (OEM factory for Hua Qi).

Even more notable, Netac had also sued Sony (yes, multinational Sony) for patent infringement.  According to this online law firm bulletin, Sony settled in late 2006 and going forward will purchase flash memory products from Netac.