Samsung announced on May 27 that the company has entered into a new cross-licensing deal with SanDisk, Reuters reported on May 27. The new agreement will be the renewal of the existing patent cross-licensing deal between the two companies, which is due to expire on August 14, 2009. The duration of the new contract will last for seven years until 2016. Under the new agreement, the effective rate of the fixed payments and royalties is expected to be 50% lower than the previous agreement, according to the same source. In addition, Samsung will continue to supply a specific portion of its flash memory production to SanDisk. Under the new seven-year contract, Samsung and SanDisk will continue their rights to access each party's patents covering the use of NAND flash memory patents for digital cameras, music players, and other electronic devices. However, the agreement does not include their patents for 3-D memory technology. Specific terms of the agreement, however, were not yet disclosed.