SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
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FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) March 23, 1998
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SANDISK CORPORATION
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
Delaware 0-26734 77-0191793
(State or other jurisdiction (Commission (IRS Employer
of incorporation) File Number) Identification No.)
140 Caspian Court, Sunnyvale, California 94089
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code (408) 542-0500
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None
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report.)
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Item 5. Other Events.
On March 23, 1998, SanDisk Corporation (the "Company" or "SanDisk")
filed a complaint in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District
of California in San Francisco against Lexar Media, Inc. ("Lexar") claiming
patent infringement with respect to the Company's solid state flashdisk patent.
Specifically, SanDisk claims Lexar has infringed its patent entitled "flash
EEPROM System" (U.S. Patent 5,602,987). Customers who purchase Lexar products or
build electronic products with Lexar devices may also be infringing this patent.
The Company's intellectual property strategy has been to enter into
cross-licensing agreements with various companies with respect to its flash card
technology. Currently, SanDisk maintains patent license agreements with Intel,
Sharp, Hitachi, Samsung and Toshiba. SanDisk offered a cross-license agreement
to Lexar, similar to those cross-licensing agreements offered to other
companies, but the two companies were unable to reach an agreement with respect
to the terms of such cross-license. Lexar has stated that it disputes the patent
infringement claim.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
SANDISK CORPORATION
DATE: April 17, 1998 By: /s/ Cindy Burgdorf
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Name: Cindy Burgdorf
Title: Chief Financial Officer,
Senior Vice President
Finance and Administration
and Secretary
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