Who invented the computer USB drive?
A computer jump drive, also known as USB drive, USB stick, thumb drive, pen drive, flash-drive USB memory or most commonly a USB Flash Drive is a data storage device that assists users to transfer data from one device to another. It is available in many different memory sizes normally ranging from 8 to 256 gb but sometimes even as much as 2 tb. The computer jump drive does not require any extra components such as charging components and therefore is highly efficient as a portable device. This combined with its low weight and large storage capacity has led to the large-scale replacement of floppy disks and also the general removal of floppy disk drives from all computers.
The Father of the flash drive is an Israeli entrepreneur and inventor named Dov Moran. After completing his electrical engineering degree at the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa he then moved into working for the Israeli navy heading up a team dealing with microprocessor technologies. After that he used his vast experience gained in the navy to consultant in the computer industry for many years before founding M-Systems which invented both the USB flash drive and Usb flash disk. In 2006 the company was sold to SanDisk Corp for $1.6 bn which is the third largest acquisition in Israeli history.
In 2000, after the initial invention by Dov Moran and some advancements in micro processing technology, a Malaysian Electrical Control Engineering student named Pua Khein-Seng with four other founding engineers claimed to have incorporated the worlds first USB flash controller, enabling the mass production and availability of usb flash drive technologies we have today. In November of that year they formed the Phison Electronics Communication Company, and approached companies such as Toshiba for funding who immediately saw the large growth potential of the device – in 2010 Phison reported sales of 500 million units world wide and a revenue of 10 billion us dollars.
However, a few other companies have claimed that they were the first to invent this new technology, first a company named Trek Technology sued usb drive manufacturers for the infringement of the copyrights pertaining to their own storage device which was found to be quite similar to the Flash drive Seng had created. Many courts have opposed this insinuation and have not upheld the claims normally siting the fact that the copyright laws were too general in this area. Netac a Chinese technology company based in Shenzhen also created a similar product and have fought many lawsuits against companies such as Sony for using Seng’s technology but none to date have been upheld.
To this day all three companies still claim to be the inventor of the modern flash drive but as of now there is no legal owner of this claim so all three continue to act as if they invented it without any legal implications of doing so.