ITC Terminates Netlist's 337-TA-1472 DRAM Investigation Against Samsung, Google, and Super Micro on Settlement.

The investigation

The Commission instituted Certain Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) Devices, Products Containing the Same, and Components Thereof, Inv. No. 337-TA-1472, on January 2, 2026 (91 FR 155-56) on a complaint by Netlist, Inc. of Irvine, California. The complaint alleged infringement of U.S. Patents 12,373,366; 10,025,731; 10,268,608; 10,217,523; 9,824,035; and 12,308,087. The institution notice defined the accused products as "dynamic random access memory devices (specifically DDR5 generation DIMMs and high bandwidth memory (HBM)), products containing the same (such as servers, computing systems, and storage systems), and components thereof." The respondents were Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Samsung Electronics America, Inc., and Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. (together, Samsung), Google LLC, and Super Micro Computer, Inc. The Office of Unfair Import Investigations participated.

On August 24, 2026, the Commission partially terminated the investigation as to all asserted claims of the '035 patent and some claims of the other five patents after Netlist withdrew its allegations on those claims (Order No. 29, issued July 23, 2026, which the Commission did not review).

How it ended

Netlist and Samsung filed a joint motion on August 18, 2026 to terminate the investigation as to all respondents based on settlement. According to the notice, the motion said the agreements "completely resolve the dispute between the Settling Parties in this Investigation, as well as between Netlist and any remaining Respondents who receive their accused products from the Samsung Respondents." The motion stated that Google and Super Micro do not oppose, and the Office of Unfair Import Investigations supported it on August 27. On September 4, the administrative law judge granted the motion under Commission Rule 210.21(b)(1), 19 CFR 210.21(b)(1), in an initial determination, Order No. 31, and limited service of the agreements. No party petitioned for review. The Commission determined not to review the initial determination, and the investigation is terminated.

What to watch next

This investigation is over at the Commission, and the notice addresses only 337-TA-1472. Netlist has other matters at the ITC. Investigation No. 337-TA-1511, instituted July 20, 2026 (91 FR 45286), names the three Samsung entities, Google, Super Micro, NVIDIA, and Broadcom. Investigation No. 337-TA-1523, instituted September 25, 2026 (91 FR 60980), names Micron, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo, and Super Micro. The complaint docketed as DN 3939 (91 FR 62558) names Micron, NVIDIA, Broadcom, and Google. Watch whether the Samsung settlement leads to any change in 337-TA-1511.