MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 2000--
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) today announced that Hitachi has signed a patent license agreement
with Rambus ending Rambus' patent infringement litigation against Hitachi in the ITC, US Federal District
Court and Republic of Germany.
As part of the agreement, Hitachi will pay Rambus an up-front settlement fee, as well as quarterly
royalty payments.
The license agreement involves patents for fundamental aspects of high-speed memory interfaces
invented by Rambus which are currently being implemented in Hitachi's SDRAM, Double Data Rate (DDR)
SDRAM memory, and Hitachi's controllers which directly interface with these types of memory. Under the
licensing agreement, the royalty rates for DDR SDRAM and the controllers, which directly interface with
DDR
SDRAM, are greater than the RDRAM compatible rates. The agreement also includes royalties for SDRAM
and for controllers that directly interface with SDRAM.
"Rambus develops and licenses IP - our objective is to produce innovations that will benefit the
semiconductor and systems industries, and by licensing these innovations to generate a return on
investment to our shareholders," said Geoff Tate, chief executive officer of Rambus Inc. "We believe our
Rambus memory interface is the best solution for the majority of the market. Developing and marketing the
Rambus memory interface has been and remains our top priority, but we are willing to license our IP for
other memory interface solutions as well. We are pleased that Hitachi chose to license our patents for
SDRAM, DDR SDRAM memory and controllers. We look forward to renewing a long-term relationship with
Hitachi."
Rambus Inc. is an intellectual property company that designs, develops and licenses
high-bandwidth chip-connection technologies which enable semiconductor memory devices to keep pace
with faster generations of processors and controllers. To date, these efforts have resulted in more than 95
U.S. and foreign patents issued to Rambus. Rambus has licensed its technology to over 30 semiconductor
companies for the development, manufacture and sale of Rambus-compatible ICs. Providers of
Rambus-based integrated circuits include the world's leading DRAM, ASIC, controller and microprocessor
manufacturers. There are more than 60 Rambus based systems shipping today, including Dell, Compaq,
Hewlett-Packard, and IBM PCs and workstations and the Sony PlayStation(R)2 video game system. More
information on Rambus Inc. and its high bandwidth technologies is available at rambus.com.
Note to Editors: Rambus and RDRAM are registered trademarks of Rambus Inc.
CONTACT: Rambus Public Relations
Kristine Wiseman, 650/944-8000
kwiseman@rambus.com
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INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE LEGAL/LAW |
