Chung Lee,
This is getting to be ridiculous - another RAMBUS wannabe, raiding the coffers of DRAM manufacturers -
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ebnews.com
DRAM makers under seige as Mosaid wages royalty campaign
By Jack Robertson
Electronic Buyers' News
(07/05/00, 05:30:22 PM EST)
Still plotting their defense in light of patent assertions coming from third-party IP house Rambus Inc., DRAM makers today found themselves with a second front to protect.
Mosaid Technologies Inc., an Ottowa, Canada memory designer, is claiming that it holds rights to DRAM core technology and is pursuing licensing deals with the bulk of the DRAM industry. The company today struck a license deal with Hitachi Ltd. and in the past 16 months claims to have landed similar agreements with Fujitsu Ltd., NEC Corp., and Toshiba Corp.
What's more, George Cwynar, Mosaid's president and chief executive, said the company is actively negotiating with eight other chip companies for licenses. Cwynar declined to discuss the fee structure Mosaid is imposing for access to its DRAM core technology.
The company's disclosure comes on the heels of a patent issue that Rambus, Mountain View, Calif., has undertaken with DRAM manufacturers over the use of a synchronous memory interface. While Mosaid's patent assertsions pertain to the chip's core architecture, Rambus is laying claim to the chip-to-chip connection between the DRAM and other components.
Those claims have already led Toshiba to agree to an unspecified licensing agreement, while Hitachi ended a legal battle with Rambus last month over the matter by agreeing to terms that were not disclosed by either party.
Mosaid has worked closely with the DRAM industry and at one point was charged with coming up with a so-called SLDRAM design that was to have rivaled the Direct Rambus DRAM interface developed by Rambus and Intel Corp.
DRAM makers have been reticent to comment on either of the licensing initiatives which conceivably could either drive up DRAM prices or force manufacturers to absorb the cost of the royalties.
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Goutama
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