Toshiba has been ordered by a US court to resume Western Digital's access to certain Toshiba's databases, but this order will not affect the operations of its memory chip unit - Toshiba Memory (TMC), according to the Japan-based vendor.

Toshiba disclosed the company has received an order from the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco regarding the motion for preliminary injunctive relief made by SanDisk, a subsidiary of Western Digital, relating to Western Digital's access to certain information stored on the databases owned by TMC.

The court ordered Toshiba resume Western Digital's access to certain data stored on TMC's databases. While Toshiba will comply with the order, it will not affect TMC's operations including TMC's decision to make unilateral investments in Fab 6 of its Yokkaichi operations in Mie (Japan), Toshiba noted.

"While we are aware of the Judge's ruling today, we do not expect any of the current ongoing litigation with Western Digital and SanDisk to limit us in proceeding with our business plans, said Yasuo Naruke, senior executive VP of Toshiba.

Toshiba earlier this month (August 2017) announced plans to invest in the Fab 6 alone, after failing to reach an agreement with manufacturing partner Western Digital (formerly SanDisk) on the joint investment. Western Digital responded saying it has been in "constructive dialogue" with Toshiba over several weeks on planned investment in the companies' JV fabs including Fab 6. Those discussions are ongoing.

The flash manufacturing joint venture between Toshiba and SanDisk began in 2004. In May 2016, Western Digital completed its acquisition of SanDisk.

Toshiba is seeking to sell TMC, and has named a consortium led by a Japan government-backed fund as its preferred bidder for the memory chip unit. Nevertheless, Western Digital, which is also among the bidders, has taken legal action to block the sale of TMC to other parties.