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`ADAM GARSON (Bar No. 240440)
`GAZDZINSKI & ASSOCIATES, PC
`750 B Street, Suite 1600
`San Diego, CA 92101
`Telephone: (858) 675-1670
`Email: adam.garson@gazpat.com
`
`
`Attorneys for Plaintiff
`SPECTRA LICENSING GROUP, LLC
`
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
`CASE NO.: ________________
`SPECTRA LICENSING GROUP,
`LLC a California corporation,
`Plaintiff,
`
`v.
`
`MARVELL SEMICONDUCTOR,
`INC., a California corporation and
`MARVELL TECHNOLOGY
`GROUP, LTD, a Bermuda
`corporation,
`
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`i
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`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`
`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT
`INFRINGEMENT
`
`
`
`JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
`
`
`
`Defendants.
`
`'16
`
`CV0817
`
`MDD
`
`BAS
`
`Exhibit 1014
`U.S. Patent No. 6,108,388
`
`

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`This is an action for patent infringement in which Plaintiff SPECTRA
`LICENSING GROUP, LLC (“SPECTRA” or “Plaintiff”) makes the following
`allegations against Defendants MARVELL SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. (“MSI”) and
`MARVELL TECHNOLOGY GROUP, LTD (“MTGL”) (collectively “MARVELL”
`or “Defendants”) as follows:
`
`THE PARTIES
`Plaintiff SPECTRA is a limited liability company organized under the
`1.
`laws of the State of California with a principal place of business at 2907 Shelter
`
`Island Drive, Suite 105-279, San Diego, California 92106.
`Upon information and belief, Defendant MSI is a corporation organized
`2.
`under the laws of California, with its principal place of business at 5488 Marvell
`Lane, Santa Clara, California 95054. MARVELL specializes in the design,
`development, sale, and marketing of high performance, mixed signal and digital
`integrated circuits aimed at the high speed computer, storage, communications and
`
`multimedia markets. In addition, MARVELL designs and develops products for a
`number of MTGL’s other subsidiaries, specifically including, Marvell International,
`Ltd. and Marvell Asia Pte. Ltd.
`Upon information and belief, MSI is a wholly owned subsidiary of
`3.
`Defendant MTGL, a Bermuda corporation. Most, if not all, of MTGL’s officers and
`directors are located at 5488 Marvell Lane, Santa Clara, California 95054 (the United
`States headquarters of MSI).
`JURISDICTION AND VENUE
`This is an action for patent infringement arising under the patent laws
`4.
`of the United States, 35 U.S.C. § 1, et seq., including 35 U.S.C. § 271. This Court
`has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a).
`This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendants at least because
`5.
`Defendants are present within or have ongoing and systematic contacts with the
`
`
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`1
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`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`United States, the State of California, and the Southern District of California.
`Defendants have purposefully and regularly availed themselves of the privileges of
`conducting business in the State of California and in the Southern District of
`California and expected or reasonably should have expected their acts to have
`consequence in the State of California and within this judicial district. Plaintiff’s
`causes of action arise directly from Defendants’ business contacts and other activities
`in the State of California and in the Southern District of California. Defendants have
`committed acts of patent infringement in this District, and have harmed and continue
`
`to harm SPECTRA in this District, by, among other things, using, selling, offering
`for sale, and/or importing infringing products and/or services into this District.
`Venue is proper in this district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391 and
`6.
`1400(b) as Defendants are doing substantial business in this judicial district and
`therefore may be found in this District, and/or a substantial part of the events giving
`rise to the claim alleged herein occurred within this District.
`PATENT-IN-SUIT
`SPECTRA owns, by assignment, all right, title and interest in U.S.
`7.
`Patent No. 6,108,388 (“the ’388 patent” or the “Patent-in-Suit”).
`The ’388 patent, entitled “Iterative-Structure Digital Signal Reception
`8.
`Device, and Module and Method Therefor” was duly and legally issued by the United
`States Patent and Trademark office on August 22, 2000 naming Catherine Douillard
`et al. as inventors after a full and fair examination. The ‘388 patent has a priority date
`of at least February 7, 1995. The ’388 patent was originally assigned to “France
`Telecom; Telediffusion de France, both of Paris, France”.1 A true and correct copy
`of the ’388 patent (including the certificate of correction) is attached hereto as
`Exhibit A.
`
`
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`1 France Telecom is now known as “Orange S.A.”
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`2
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`The Patent-in-Suit is/was valid and enforceable until at least February
`
`9.
`6, 2016.
`10. SPECTRA is in compliance with the marking requirements under 35
`U.S.C. § 287 in that it has no duty to mark or to give notice in lieu thereof because it
`has no products to mark.
`
`BACKGROUND
`The Invention of Turbo Equalization and Iterative Detection.
`11. During the early 1990s, France Telecom researchers (including the
`
`named inventor(s) of the ’388 patent) made ground breaking advances in the area of
`iterative signal processing. These advances included the development of iteratively
`decodable codes such as “Turbo Codes” as well as the development of a signal
`processing technique called “turbo equalization.” Turbo equalization may also be
`referred to as “iterative detection,” “iterative coding,” or “iterative reception.”
` The technological advance provided by turbo equalization, which was
`12.
`
`made possible by France Telecom in collaboration with ENST de Bretagne (an elite
`French information technology and telecommunications research school), led to huge
`performance gains in systems that experience substantial inter-symbol interference
`(ISI) such as the hard disk drive storage market.
`13. At its most basic, “turbo equalization” is an advanced signal processing
`technique for “cleaning-up” errors introduced by ISI during transmission or storage.
`In the context of high capacity hard disk drives (“HDDs”), ISI occurs because the
`data bits (symbols) are packed so closely together that they interfere with one another.
`This may cause cross-talk between the data symbols stored on the disk making it
`difficult to recover the original information.
`14. Turbo equalization was first described in a paper from the inventors C.
`Douillard et al., entitled “Iterative Correction of Intersymbol Interference: Turbo-
`
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`Equalization,” Eur. Trans. Communications, vol. 6, pp. 507-11, Oct. 1995 (the
`“Douillard Paper”). (Attached hereto as Exhibit B.)
`15. The Douillard Paper has been widely acknowledged as the first paper to
`propose turbo equalization. For example, the Douillard Paper was acknowledged as
`the first proposal of turbo equalization in a paper by Hagenauer, entitled “The Turbo
`Principle: Tutorial Introduction and State of the Art,” 1997 (Exhibit C, p. 7, Col. 2,
`lines 12-13; the “Hagenauer Paper”.)
`16. The Hagenauer Paper is cited in a book authored by MTGL CTO Dr.
`
`Zining Wu (The “Wu Book”) entitled “Coding and Iterative Detection for Magnetic
`Recording Channels.” (Portions attached hereto as Exhibit D.)
`17. The Douillard Paper was also acknowledged as the first description of
`turbo equalization in the paper by Michael Tuchler, Ralf Koetter, and Andrew Singer
`entitled “Turbo Equalization: Principles and New Results,” 2002 (Exhibit E, Bates
`no. E-2, last two lines; the “Tuchler Paper.”)
`
`18. The Tuchler Paper is cited in “Equation Based LDPC Decoder for
`Intersymbol Interference Channels,” which is a white paper authored by Dr. Zining
`Wu and MARVELL engineer Gregory Burd (Exhibit F, Bates no. F-2, first two lines
`of 2nd paragraph.).
`19. On or around December 13, 2012, Dr. Zining Wu explained under oath
`that he came upon iterative coding as an area he wanted to study because “people
`from France first proposed this code called cable [sic] code as a way to iterative
`coding [sic].” (Excerpt filed herewith as Exhibit G, Bates No. G-2, lines 3-4.)
`MARVELL Knew That Iterative Detection was First Disclosed in the
`Douillard Paper and was Associated with France Telecom’s Research.
`20. Upon information and belief, MARVELL, including its CTO Dr. Zining
`Wu, are aware and have been aware of France Telecom’s work in the arena of
`iterative coding and iterative detection since at least 1999, and have knowledge that
`
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`directly connects the discovery of turbo equalization to France Telecom’s research
`activities. This is demonstrated by, among other things, the two separate citations by
`Dr. Zining Wu of papers that acknowledge the origin of turbo equalization as the
`Douillard Paper.
`Aspects of Iterative Detection are Claimed in the ’388 Patent.
`21. The ENST research activity reflected in the Douillard Paper also led to
`the issuance of the ‘388 patent, the first of many more related to turbo equalization
`and iterative detection. The ‘388 patent was assigned to France Telecom, and then
`
`later to Plaintiff.
`22. Various aspects of the practice of turbo equalization and/or iterative
`detection as described in the Douillard Paper, especially as implemented by
`MARVELL in the context of devices for use in hard disk drives, infringe the ’388
`patent.
`23. Via the use of MARVELL’s iterative read channel devices, including
`
`the design, development, demonstration, sampling, evaluation, configuration, testing,
`optimization, and qualification thereof, Defendants infringed the ‘388 patent under
`35 U.S.C § 271.
`The MARVELL 88i9422 as an Exemplary Accused Device.
`In a document entitled “SpinPoint M8 Hard Disk Drive Product Manual
`24.
`Rev 2.7” dated September 4, 2013, published by Samsung Electronics, a description
`and diagram of a MARVELL 88i9422 device and the associated MARVELL
`88C9410 read/write channel core is provided. (The “SpinPoint Manual”, attached
`hereto as Exhibit H). Samsung Electronics is a brand of U.S.-based Seagate
`Technology PLC since 2011 when Samsung divested itself of its commercial hard
`disk drive operations.
`\\\\\
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`25. Based on information and belief, figure 5-3 of the SpinPoint Manual
`(Bates no. H-37) is an accurate depiction of the MARVELL 88C9410 read/write
`channel core and the 88i9422 device in which that core is used.
`26. Figure 5-3 of Exhibit H depicts the “Iterative Decoder” used in the
`MARVELL 88i9422 device and the MARVELL 88C9410 core. This Iterative
`Decoder appears in the block surrounded by a dotted line near the upper-right portion
`of the figure and contains a “SOVA” (soft output Viterbi Algorithm) and “Code
`Decoder.” (Exhibit H, Bates No. H-37)
`
`27. The “Iterative Decoder” used in the MARVELL 88i9422 device is
`comprised of a “SOVA” detector and a “Code Decoder” connected to one another
`via a bi-directional arrow. Id.
`28. Section 5.4.1 of the SpinPoint Manual states that the ENDEC of the
`88C9410 “decodes the LDPC[.]” Id. at Bates No. H-38.
`29. An LDPC code is a low-density parity check code composed of many
`
`interconnected single parity check (SPC) codes.
`Infringement Analysis of 88i9422/88c9410 as an Exemplary Accused Device.
`30. Claim 9 of the ‘388 patent, with miniscule reference letters added to
`designate different part of the claim, reads as follows (in light of the certificate of
`correction):
`9. Method for the reception of signals formed by a series of digital
`symbols corresponding to the convolutive encoding of items of source
`digital data comprising the following steps:
`[a] supplying with received symbols Ri; and
`[b] performing for each received symbol Ri at least two iterations of
`the following steps:
`[c] correcting inter-symbol interference affecting received
`symbols Ri, by means of an item of correction information Zi,
`said correction information Zi except Z1 (first iteration), being
`computed by a computing step of the previous iteration, and the
`
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`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`

`

`Case 3:16-cv-00817-DMS-MDD Document 1 Filed 04/05/16 PageID.8 Page 8 of 22
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`delivery of corresponding estimated symbols Ai,1 with weighted
`value;
`[d] decoding said estimated symbols Ai,1 with weighted value
`entailing operations symmetrical to said convolutive encoding,
`and the delivery of decoded symbols Ai,2 with weighted value;
`[e] computing said correction information Zi from at least one of
`said estimated symbols Ai,1 and at least one of said decoded
`symbols Ai,2; and
`[f] delivering said correction information Zi to the step of
`correcting inter-symbol interference of the following iteration.
`
`
`31. Attached hereto as Exhibit I (and included immediately below) is the
`“Iterative Decoder” portion of the MARVELL 88i9442/9410 core depicted in figure
`5-3 of the SpinPoint Manual (Exhibit H) shown with majuscule reference letters
`added.
`
`
`
`
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`32. Upon information and belief, the input arrow (A) to the Iterative
`Decoder is indicative of the step of (a) “supplying with received symbols.”
`33. Upon information and belief, the use of the term “Iterative” (B) in label
`“Iterative Decoder” is indicative of the step (b) of “performing for each received
`symbol Ri at least two iterations” where the operations are performed by the
`interconnected sub-blocks within the “Iterative Decoder.”
`34. Upon information and belief, the SOVA detector (C) is indicative of
`performing the step (c) of “correcting for inter-symbol interference.” Additionally,
`the downward pointing arrow (C) is indicative of the “delivery of decoded symbols
`with weighted value.”
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`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`35. Upon information and belief, Code Decoder (D/E) is indicative of
`performing the step of (d) “decoding said estimated symbols” and “delivering
`estimated symbols with weighted value.”
`36. Upon information and belief, Code Decoder (D/E) further performs the
`step (e) of computing correction information from at least one of said estimated
`symbols and at least one of said decoded symbols.
`37. Upon information and belief, Arrow (F) is indicative of the step (f) of
`supplying said correction information to the correcting step (performed by the SOVA
`
`detector).
`38. Upon information and belief, the decoding performed by Code Decoder
`(D/E) entails operations symmetrical to said convolutional encoding due to the
`decoding of the single parity check codes that make up an LDPC code.
`Application of Exemplary Infringement Analysis to MARVELL’s
`Entire Read Channel Product Line.
`
`39. Based on information and belief, SpinPoint Product Manuals or other
`documents similar to that provided in Exhibit H exist for other Accused Devices, and
`these similar SpinPoint Product Manuals show other MARVELL read channel
`devices and cores using an “Iterative Decoder” configured in the same or similar
`configuration as shown for the 88i9442 device. These other MARVELL devices
`include, without limitation, the 88i9322 device (88c9300 series) and the 88i1064
`device (88c1000/10 series).
`40. Upon information and belief, the first two digits after the “88i” in the
`MARVELL part number are indicative of the read channel core on which the device
`is based. Therefore, if two part numbers share these initial two digits they will
`perform the same, or substantially similar, read channel processing. Thus, based on
`the demonstration of infringement of Claim 9 of the ‘388 patent performed with
`
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`respect to the 88i9442 device (and 88C9410 core) described in the SpinPoint Manual,
`other devices in the 88i94xx family will also infringe the ‘388 patent.
`41. Other SpinPoint Product Manuals exist that depict iterative detection in
`the Marvell 88i9442 and the 88i1064 devices. The existence of these other SpinPoint
`Product Manuals depicting iterative detection in the 88i9442 and the 88i1064 devices
`is indicative of the use of iterative detection in all 88i94xx and 88i10xx series
`MARVELL read channel devices.
`42. On December 12, 2012 Dr. Zining Wu stated under oath that the first
`
`three revisions of the 9xxx series MARVELL read channel device families used
`iterative codes. In particular, Dr. Wu stated under oath that “this [sic] three chips,
`9000, 9100, 9200 all the SNR gains come from iterative code.” (Docket No. 707 of
`CMU Case, excerpt attached hereto as Exhibit J, Bates no. J-3, lines 3-4.)
`43. Additionally, in 2012, Dr. Zining Wu stated under oath that iterative
`coding is “implemented in every one of Marvell chips today.” (Id. at Bates no. J-3,
`
`lines 5-9.)
`44. Thus, based on information and belief, any read channel devices based
`on, or using, the following MARVELL read channel cores perform iterative detection
`and infringe the ‘388 patent: 88c9000, 88c9010, 88c9100, 88c9110, 88c9199,
`88c9200, 88c9210, 88c9300, 88c9310, 88c9311, 88c9399, 88c9400, 88c9410,
`88c9411, 88c10010, 88c11010, 88src9000, 88src9210, 88src10000, 88src10030, and
`88src10050.
`45. Additionally, based on information and belief, at least the following
`MARVELL products perform iterative detection and infringe the ’388 patent (and in
`combination with cores listed in the paragraph immediately above, constitute the
`“Accused Products”):
`• MARVELL 9000-series read channel device family, including without
`limitation model numbers 88i9010, 88i9012, 88i9015, 88i9017, 88i9018,
`
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`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`88i9020, 88i9022, 88i9025, 88i9031, 88i9035, 88i9045, 88i9046, and
`88i9060;
`• MARVELL 9100-series read channel device family, including without
`limitation model numbers 88i9103, 88i9104, 88i9105, 88i9108, 88i9112,
`88i9115, 88i9117, 88i9118, 88i9119, 88i9122, 88i9125, 88i9126, 88i9137,
`88i9138, 88i9145, 88i9146, and 88i9160;
`• MARVELL 9200-series read channel device family, including without
`limitation model numbers 88i9205, 88i9212, 88i9217, 88i9222, 88i9225,
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`88i9226, 88i9245, and 88i9246;
`• MARVELL 9300-series read channel device family, including without
`limitation model numbers 88i9305, 88i9311, 88i9312, 88i9317, 88i9318,
`88i9319, 88i9321, 88i9322, 88i9335, 88i9346, 88i9347, and 88i9348;
`• MARVELL 9400-series read channel device family, including without
`limitation model numbers 88i9405, 88i9411, 88i9412, 88i9421, 88i9422,
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`88i9435, 88i9441, 88i9446, and 88i9447;
`• MARVELL C10010-series read channel device family, including without
`limitation model numbers 88i1005, 88i1012, 88i1017, 88i1038, 88i1046,
`88i1047, 88i1048, 88i1049, 88i1061, 88i1062, 88i1064, 88i1065, 88i1067,
`88i1068, and 88i1069;
`• MARVELL C11000/C11010-series read channel device family, including
`without limitation model numbers 88i1146, 88i1148, 88i1149, 88i1160,
`88i1161 and 88i1068; and
`• MARVELL C12000 -series read channel device family, including without
`limitation model number 88i1248.
`Infringement of the ‘388 patent may be found in other, or additional,
`46.
`operations performed in the Accused Products, MARVELL read channel devices,
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`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`Case 3:16-cv-00817-DMS-MDD Document 1 Filed 04/05/16 PageID.12 Page 12 of 22
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`and other activities engaged in, or induced by, MARVELL, or it may be found
`through other basis of infringement including the doctrine of equivalents.
`47. Upon information and belief, documents similar to the SpinPoint
`Product Manual are provided to all customers of the Accused Products along with
`data sheets and instructions. These documents provide instructions to the purchasers
`of the Accused Products as to how to use the Accused Products in an infringing
`manner and evidence MARVELL’s active and knowing aiding and abetting the direct
`infringement of the purchasers of the Accused Products including, without limitation,
`
`manufacturers of magnetic hard disk drives.
`48. Products containing the Accused Devices are sold to consumers in the
`Southern District of California.
`Iterative Detection was a Critical Feature Supporting MARVELL’s
`Read Channel Success.
`49. Around 2007-2008, MARVELL announced it was sampling production
`
`read channel devices incorporating iterative detection.
`50. MARVELL’s read channel devices for hard disk drives incorporating
`iterative detection (a.k.a. turbo equalization) employ signal processing techniques
`first proposed in the Douillard Paper and described in the ‘388 patent.
`51. MARVELL would soon successfully develop, market, and sell read
`channel devices with iterative detection to several hard disk drive manufacturers to
`incorporate into consumer and enterprise hard disk drives.
`52. The on-going development and sales in the area of iterative detection
`read channel technology propelled MARVELL to market leadership in the area of
`read channel application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) – especially in the area
`of hard disk drive technology.
`53. On or around the time of the first delivery of production samples of
`iterative read channel devices, (former) MTGL CEO Sehat Sutardja made certain
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`Case 3:16-cv-00817-DMS-MDD Document 1 Filed 04/05/16 PageID.13 Page 13 of 22
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`statements about the tremendous commercial benefits provided by iterative read
`channel technology. In an earnings conference call for fiscal Q1 2008, (the “Earnings
`Call”, attached hereto as Exhibit K) Mr. Sutardja referred to the iterative read channel
`as “a revolutionary technology breakthrough” and as the “holy grail” of read channel
`development:
`Once again, we are very excited to announce that we have dramatically
`increased our SNR advantage with revolutionary technological
`breakthrough. After over six years of internal development, we have
`now achieved the holy grail of read channel development. We have the
`
`industry[’s] first iterative read channel SOC.
`
`Our patented implementation of these extremely complicated and
`advanced iterative algorithms, will even further our customers to
`improve SNR and performance, which will allow even greater capacity
`points and manufacturing yields. We have
`incorporated
`this
`breakthrough technology into our new SOC’s, which will go into
`production next year. Our customers are very excited about the
`tremendous improvement in performance we will be offering which
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`will greatly enhance the competitiveness of their products in the market.
`[Exhibit K, Bates no. K-3 to K-4 (emphasis added.)]
`
`Iterative coding would subsequently go on to be one of the most
`54.
`successful features MARVELL would add to their read channel products.
`55. Mr. Sutardja would also state in the Earnings Call that MARVELL
`provided samples of read channel devices incorporating iterative read channel
`technology to prospective customers (including hard disk drive manufacturers) as
`part of the sales cycle, and that MARVELL expected sales to increase as a result:
`<Q – Louis Gerhardy>: ... would you expect any change in your market
`share there and then also with regards to the new SNR performance and
`the products that will ramp in 2008 – calendar 2008, would you expect
`you share of the market to increase then?
`
`<A – Sehat Sutardja>: Yeah, Louis, so we don’t expect any changes in
`the enterprise market share ... With regards to the new technology, the
`iterative technology there we have just finally been able to show
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`Case 3:16-cv-00817-DMS-MDD Document 1 Filed 04/05/16 PageID.14 Page 14 of 22
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`samples to our customers. Of course, this is a very exciting technology
`because this is one of those technology [sic] that comes you know every
`ten years or so and this technology is yet another piece of the key critical
`technology that we provide to our customer in the storage business to
`make them more competitive. So, with such an important technology
`we do expect ... that we’ll gain more market shares for next year.
`(Exhibit K, Bates no. K-4 (emphasis added).)
`
`56. The success of MARVELL’s iterative read channel technology and the
`associated products is further evidenced by testimony given under oath by Dr. Zining
`Wu on December 12, 2012 (Exhibit J):
`
`Q: Would you say iterative coding is a successful feature in Marvell’s
`chips?
`
`
`
`A[Wu]: It’s very successful feature [sic]. (Exhibit J, Bates no. J-3, line
`24 to Bates no. J-4, line 1.)
`
`[...]
`
`
`A[Wu]: We have 3 dB in SNR gain from iterative coding.ing [sic] that
`give us larger SNR gain than any other feature in Marvell, so that it is a
`consideration to be very successful.” (Id. at lines 5-8 (emphasis added).)
`
`MARVELL Product Sales Cycle Involves Extensive Use in the U.S.
`In a 2003 prospectus disclosure prepared by MARVELL for the Security
`57.
`and Exchange Commission (attached hereto as Exhibit L), MARVELL made the
`following statement regarding the sales cycle of the storage product market:
`
`We have a lengthy and expensive storage product sales cycle that does
`not assure product sales, and that if unsuccessful, may harm our
`operating results.
`
`The sales cycle for our storage products is long and requires us to invest
`significant resources with each potential customer without any
`assurance of sales to that customer. Our sales cycle typically begins with
`a three to six month evaluation and test period, also known as
`qualification, during which our products undergo rigorous reliability
`testing by our customers.
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`Case 3:16-cv-00817-DMS-MDD Document 1 Filed 04/05/16 PageID.15 Page 15 of 22
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`Qualification is typically followed by a twelve to eighteen month
`development period by our customers and an additional three to six
`month period before a customer commences volume production of
`equipment incorporating our products. This lengthy sales cycle creates
`the risk that our customers will decide to cancel or change product plans
`for products incorporating our integrated circuits. During our sales
`cycle, our engineers assist customers in implementing our products into
`the customers’ products. We incur significant research and development
`and selling, general and administrative expenses as part of this process,
`and this process may never generate related revenues. We derive
`revenue from this process only if our design is selected. Once a customer
`selects a particular integrated circuit for use in a storage product, the
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`customer generally uses solely that integrated circuit for a full
`generation of its product. Therefore, if we do not achieve a design win
`for a product, we will be unable to sell our integrated circuit to a
`customer until that customer develops a new product or a new
`generation of its product. Even if we achieve a design win with a
`customer, the customer may not ultimately ship products incorporating
`our products or may cancel orders after we have achieved a sale. In
`addition, we will have to begin the qualification process again when a
`customer develops a new generation of a product for which we were the
`
`successful supplier. [(Exhibit L, Bates no. L-21 to L-22 (emphasis
`added).)]
`
`58. Based on information and belief, MARVELL made similar statements
`regarding the sales cycle in more-recent SEC filings including the MARVELL 10-
`K filed for year 2015. See MARVELL 2015 Form 10-K for fiscal year ended
`January 31, 2015 at p. 19.
`59. Based on information and belief, the management and strategic decision
`making of MARVELL as well as most of its business activities are conducted at
`MSI’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California.
`60. Based on information and belief, almost all of MARVELL’s sales and
`marketing decision making for read channel products is conducted in Santa Clara,
`California.
`61. Based on information and belief, the sale and development of iterative
`detection read channel devices involved substantial use of those devices at
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`COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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`Case 3:16-cv-00817-DMS-MDD Document 1 Filed 04/05/16 PageID.16 Page 16 of 22
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`MARVELL’s U.S. locations and the U.S. locations of MARVELL’s customers.
`62. The Accused Products were researched, designed, and developed in
`MARVELL’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California.
`63. Based on information and belief, one or more of the Accused Products
`underwent an extensive development and sales cycle that involved substantial U.S.-
`based use of the Accused Devices both at MARVELL’s U.S. facilities and at the
`U.S.-based facilities of its customer(s) – generally over a period of twelve (12) to
`eighteen (18) months (“Sales Cycle”). During the Sales Cycle, MARVELL first
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`provides evaluation chips for customers (hard disk drive manufacturers) to put
`through a rigorous process of performance and functionality validation. This is
`followed by a customization process whereby MARVELL further uses the Accused
`Products to perform customization based on the customer’s requirements.
`Subsequently, the customer would go through another round of validation with input
`and help from MARVELL including even further use of one or more of the Accused
`
`Devices prior to integrating t

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