Micron’s Netlist ‘Patent Troll’ Suit Sent Back to State Court

Micron Technology Inc. convinced an Idaho federal judge to send back to state court its lawsuit accusing competing chipmaker Netlist Inc. of asserting patent allegations in bad faith.

The US District Court for the District of Idaho can’t adjudicate Micron’s allegation that Netlist violated Idaho’s Bad Faith Assertions of Patent Infringement Act without “disrupting the congressionally approved federal-state balance,” Judge Amanda Brailsford said in a Wednesday order. Brailsford remanded the case back to Idaho state court, stating Micron’s suit “targets only bad-faith assertion conduct, which poses no obstacle to the objectives of federal patent law.”

Micron declined to comment. ...