Toshiba Corp and SanDisk Corp filed separate civil lawsuits against South Korea's SK Hynix Inc this week, seeking damages over the alleged theft of data related to their flash memory chip technology, according to Reuters.

The technology is used in many tablet computers and smartphones sold worldwide.

SK Hynix had no comment to make regarding the lawsuits as it had yet to receive the litigation. Hynix competes with both companies.

Toshiba and SanDisk have been partners in flash memory technology for almost 15 years, supplying chips for a number of different devices, according to Reuters.

The lawsuits come after the arrest a former SanDisk engineer, made by Tokyo police on March 13, who is now suspected of providing technical data to Hynix, where he worked after SanDisk.

Toshiba said this week it has filed the suit with the Tokyo District Court.

The company has yet to say how much it is seeking, but said it has estimated losses of approximately 100 billion yen, or $980 million USD, as a result of the leak, according to Reuters.

SanDisk confirmed it filed a suit against Hynix in Santa Clara Superior Court, in California, seeking an injunction, damages, an injunction along with other remedies.

Flash memory chips are used to store data in devices like tablets and smartphones, and are a key source of revenue for Toshiba.

Toshiba competes with the likes of South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co.

Toshiba previously sued Hynix in 2004 looking for damages for the breach of its flash memory patents and an injunction against "the sale of related products," according to Reuters.

The case was eventually settled through a cross-licensing agreement.

Shares in Hynix were down around 1.6 percent in early morning trading. 

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