USB flash drives were invented by Amir Ban, Dov Moran and Oron Ogdan, all

of the Israeli company M-Systems, who filed US patent 6148354 in April 1999.
However, the patent describes a product that has a cable between the
memory unit and the USB connector.[8] Released later the same year, IBM
Patent Disclosure RPS8-1999-0201 from September 13, 1999, by Shimon
Shmueli accurately describes the USB flash drive.[9] IBM partnered with MSystems to bring the product to market. Shmueli was later an expert witness
for M-Systems and as part of his testimony in the Singapore court presented
the IBM disclosure and evidence to the fact that he invented the USB flash
drive.[citation needed] M-Systems' product, developed by a team led by Dan
Harkabi and named the DiskOnKey, was announced in September 2000.[10]

Competing claims have been made by Singaporean company Trek Technology

and Chinese company Netac Technology,[11] but these claims are based on
patents that post-date M-Systems'. Both Trek Technology and Netac
Technology have tried to protect their patent claims. Trek won a Singaporean
suit,[12] but a court in the United Kingdom revoked one of Trek's UK patents.
[13] While Netac Technology has brought lawsuits against PNY Technologies,
[14] Lenovo,[15] aigo,[16] Sony,[17][18][19] and Taiwan's Acer and Tai Guen
Enterprise Co,[19] most companies that manufacture USB flash drives do so
without regard for Trek and Netac's patents.

Pua Khein-Seng from Malaysia claims to have incorporated the world's first
single chip USB flash controller. He is currently the CEO of Phison Electronics
Corp, which is based in Taiwan.[20]