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Jury Awards Memory Chip Designer Rambus $306.5m (U.S.) in Patent Verdict
High-speed memory chip interface designer and frequent patent litigant Rambus Inc. prevailed in its patent infringement suit against South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor Inc., receiving a $306.5M (U.S.) verdict from a California jury. The jury ruled that all of Rambus' asserted claims, primarily those related to dynamic random access memory (DRAM), were valid. Hynix has counterclaimed against Rambus, alleging unenforceability of the patents and market adoption impediment issues. A trial on these matters is expected this summer after which Rambus’ injunction request is to be addressed.
Rambus has successfully pursued many companies that make, use and sell memory chips used in PCs and other electronic devices. It has similar patent and anti-trust suits pending against other chip companies and appears to be looking to mobile phone companies next. Rambus has not always prevailed in its patent suits. Its case against Infineon Technologies AG was dismissed when the court learned that Rambus destroyed documents in anticipation of the suit. The parties later settled their disputes with Infineon agreeing to pay a royalty.
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