Jun 12, 2007

First invention and sale

Several companies claim to be the first to have invented the USB Flash Drive in 1998 through 2000. Trek was the first company to sell a USB Flash Drive (ThumbDrive) in early 2000. However, their patent does not describe the USB Flash Drive; instead, it describes a very broad family of storage devices, of which the USB Flash Drive is one.

M-Systems (accquired by SanDisk in November 2006 [2]) has been working on developing the USB Flash Drive since 1998. The domain www.diskonkey.com was registered by them on October 12, 1999 [3] and indicates that the USB Flash Drive was already in development. In 2000 Dan Harkabi joined the M-System team and led the development of DiskOnKey. The industrial design was done by Ziba and the product won the IDEA award in 2001. M-System's patent rigorously describes the USB Flash Drive and its implementation.

The Singapore Court of Appeals confirmed the validity of Trek Technology's patent for its ThumbDrive, calling it "novel and inventive" in the decision published in The Straits Times. The city-state's highest court also quashed the plea of four companies—Israeli firm M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers, Electec, FE Global Electronics and Singapore-based Ritronics Components—and ordered them to stop selling similar devices. The decision is expected to have a ripple effect on other similar law suits which the Trek group has pending in Britain, Japan and Taiwan.

Netac Technology of Shenzhen, China also hold a 1999 Chinese and 2004 US patent on USB flash technology which they have licensed to major manufacturers

6 comments:

Branded USB Sticks said...

Every organization, came into being wants to be number 1 always.

Mattie said...

Really useful blog.Good work keeping this updated! USB Boot Drive Thanks a lot!

green pc said...

In the highly competitive world of printed USB flash drives lots of companies appear overnight and claim to be experts. The reality is that they're out to make a 'quick buck' from unsuspecting customers so don't be afraid to ask for testimonials from companies they have supplied to.

army wives dvd box set australia said...

This can be a very good chance to cooperation.

how to convert dat to avi said...

In 2000 Dan Harkabi abutting the M-System aggregation and led the development of DiskOnKey. The automated architecture was done by Ziba and the artefact won the IDEA accolade in 2001. M-System's apparent anxiously describes the USB Flash Drive and its implementation.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.