Toshiba Responds To Trial Court Ruling On Post-Trial Motions In U.S. Trade Secret Lawsuit On NAND Flash Technologies

TOKYO and IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 2, 2005 — Toshiba Corporation and its subsidiary, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), have announced their response to the ruling today by the Superior Court of the State of California, the trial court (court of first instance), on the companies' post trial motions in the lawsuit with Lexar over claimed NAND Flash-related trade secret misappropriation. The court has granted Toshiba Corporation's and TAEC's motion for a new trial on the damages awards for both Lexar's misappropriation of trade secrets claim and breach of fiduciary duty claim. As a result, the jury award in the original trial totaling $465.368 million against Toshiba Corporation and TAEC has been vacated.

The court has denied Toshiba Corporation's and TAEC's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV).

We are very pleased that the Court has granted a new trial, vacating what we considered to be an erroneous verdict, and we look forward to trying these issues in a new trial. We are disappointed that the Court has denied our motion for JNOV, and we plan to appeal this decision.

Toshiba was a principal innovator of NAND Flash memory technology in the 1980's and has been a pioneer throughout its development. Flash memory remains a strategic product for Toshiba and one in which Toshiba owns original technologies.