SanDisk, Apple and Samsung declined to comment Wed. on a patent i...

7,065,417 for an “MPEG Portable Sound Reproducing System and a Reproducing Method Thereof.” The patent was issued in June 2006, but Texas MP3 only recently was assigned all rights in it. Texas MP3 sought a judgment that each defendant had infringed on its patent, as well as preliminary and permanent injunctions to stop the defendants from continued infringing. It also sought unspecified damages. SanDisk mentioned the suit in the 10-K report it filed Wed. with the SEC but made no comment about it. Separately, nearly 2 weeks after SanDisk announced cost-cutting measures to combat industrywide NAND component price deterioration, CEO Eli Harari told analysts early this week that 2007 is “off to an unusually challenging start.” NAND component pricing fell about 50% the past 2 months “due to excessive supply of NAND components coupled with first quarter seasonally weak demand,” he said Feb. 16. Austerity measures include cutting up to 10% of employees and cutting salaries of some executives and freezing others’, SanDisk said. Company executives told analysts they see a “huge global opportunity” for it in the audio/video category. The next 2 years, it expects to “move from a follower to really an innovator and a leader” in that category, said Harari, adding that SanDisk isn’t content with its audio/video share. SanDisk succeeded in the flash MP3 player arena and it’s frequently ranked #2 in market share in the U.S, though far behind Apple.