scumbria; I am not qualified to comment on the quality of Rambus' patent designs. However, I am very impressed that Toshiba would agree contractually to respect such patents. Presumably Toshiba will pay royalties under their contract on DDR, for example, even if the patents are declared invalid at some point (although we would all need to see the fine print on that one!). Nevertheless, Toshiba's position is compelling and all others who choose to battle Rambus on this issue are welcome to do so, but clearly do so at some greater peril than was felt to be the case a week ago.
I am intrigued by your comment that Rambus, to paraphrase, didn't work very hard to get its patents. Or rather, didn't deserve the patents because they didn't earn them somehow.
Many of the great discoveries in history have been done by accident. Scientists were looking for one thing, found another, discovered a use for it, and got a patent. Should they be penalized because they didn't even try to find the product or process they discovered..that it was "an accident". Hey, they didn't "earn it".
Rambus has a fistful of patents. How they got them, whether they earned them, whether they worked hard enought to get them is totally irrelevant. The only question is whether they will stand up to legal scrutiny. Rambus may have won the lottery, but all I can say is good for them. |
