The parties and the patents
The case is MR Licensing LLC v. Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, No. 2:26-cv-00922 (E.D. Tex.), a jury demand. The complaint says MR Licensing is a Texas limited liability company with its principal place of business in Marshall, Texas. On information and belief, SMTC is organized under Cayman Islands law and SMI Taiwan under Taiwan law. The complaint says MR Licensing is the sole and exclusive owner of the three patents and has complied with 35 U.S.C. 287.
U.S. Patent 7,979,658, titled Secure Management of Memory Regions in a Memory, issued July 12, 2011. Claim 1 covers a system that facilitates control of access to at least one memory comprising the memory that contains a plurality of memory regions to facilitate storage of data and an access management component that compares received authentication data to authentication data associated with a memory region and makes a determination regarding whether the received authentication data matches, facilitates a wipe erase of a memory region when the received authentication data matches the authentication data associated with the memory region, and facilitates creation of a new security record that contains a default authentication credential.
U.S. Patent 8,694,776, titled Authenticated Memory and Controller Slave, issued April 8, 2014. Claim 1 covers a system comprising an external electronic memory component that comprises a plurality of memory locations and facilitates storage of data, wherein the external electronic memory component is configured to be external from and communicatively connected to a host component and to receive a request to perform at least one of a task, a function, or an operation which is offloaded to the external electronic memory component by the host component, and an optimized controller component configured to access a subset of the data, perform the task on the subset of the data to facilitate generation of result data, and transmit the result data to a host memory of the host component without transmission of the subset of the data to the host component and without allowance of access of the subset of the data by the host component.
U.S. Patent 9,767,303, with the same title, issued September 19, 2017. Claim 1 covers a system comprising a memory that stores secure data and computer executable components and a processor that executes an optimized controller component configured to, in response to receiving a request, authenticate a host device associated with the memory and determine based on the authentication an availability of a task, perform the task on the secure data to generate result data, wherein the secure data is a subset of data other than a second subset of data that is used to access the secure data and other than a third subset of data that is used to decrypt the secure data, and wherein the host device is not permitted access to the secure data, and transmit the result data to the host device without transmission of the secure data.
What the complaint alleges
Each count alleges direct infringement of at least claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 271, and induced and contributory infringement. Knowledge is alleged at least as of the complaint. Paragraph 17 lists FerriSSD PCIe/NVMe families and many model numbers as the Accused Instrumentalities. Preliminary charts are Exhibits A, B, and C. The prayer asks for damages, willfulness, a permanent injunction under 35 U.S.C. 283, and an exceptional-case award under 35 U.S.C. 285.
What it means
This filing pairs with MR Licensing v. ADATA, No. 2:26-cv-00921, on the same three patents and TCG Opal-class theory against a major SSD controller supplier. Ownership from USPTO assignment records was not checked for this draft.
What to watch next
Watch for Silicon Motion's answer, any early motion, and how the court treats the ADATA companion.