Double_Eagle,
My take was that Tate was going out of his way to say that rambus wanted to settle, to make deals, and to license their IP, for both RDRAM and not compatible technologies. I thought that his point with the suit was that, *if* Hitachi failed to settle and sort things out now, and there subsequently ensued a drawn out trial, *then* rmbs wouldn't just take the same royalties.
Good point! I even remember him starting by saying something like "if it goes to trial" then they won't want to give Hitachi the license. I'm sure they'd love to settle before the lawyer's bills really start piling up.
My guess is that Hitachi would have to have fairly irrefutable proof that the patents are solid to back down now, settle, and start paying royalties on the SDRAM, DDR DRAM, and SH microprocessors they have shipped in the past and continue to ship. Even the spectre of losing the case and not getting licensed might be hard to balance. OTOH, my legal training is courtesy of Judge Wapner, so there may be a flaw in my thinking! <G>
Dave |
