Note, this is a bit dated, but still interesting......
Rambus in patent talks
Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2000 4:54 pm PT
By Pia Landergren and James Niccolai
SAN JOSE, CALIF. - Computer memory designer Rambus is continuing its crusade to collect royalty payments from chipmakers for its proprietary, high-speed memory technology.
The company is currently in royalty-fee discussions with all major SDRAM manufacturers, Avo Kanadjian, Rambus vice president of worldwide marketing, said in an interview at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) Tuesday.
Kanadjian wouldn't say how far the discussions have gone with any of the companies, but he confirmed that Mountain View, Calif.-based Rambus is in various stages of negotiation with Hitachi, Toshiba , Oki Electronic Industry, Infineon Technologies, NEC, Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Electronics Industry, and Micron Technology
"We know that the patents are controversial, but we think it is only fair that these companies should pay us royalty fees," Kanadjian said.
Asked why he thinks the patent discussions have caused so much controversy, Kanadjian said, "Every company in the industry is involved in cross licensing. We are not interested in cross licensing, that's why people find us controversial." Cross licensing is the practice of two companies using each other's technology. Instead of paying each another a licensing fee, they let each other use the technology for little or no cost.
Rambus' core income comes from licensing fees on its RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) memory interface technology chip. Companies that manufacture chips using the technology have to pay Rambus a fee. Rambus makes roughly $10 million a year on these fees, Kanadjian said.
Last year, however, Rambus started demanding patent fees for a technology used in SDRAM and DDR SDRAM (double data rate SDRAM) memory chips as well. Rambus owns a patent on this technology. The controversy started when Rambus separately sued Hitachi and Infineon early this year regarding the patent fees.
Then in June, when Toshiba signed a SDRAM licensing deal with Rambus, it appears that a door was opened for the memory designer to try to collect royalty fees from all SDRAM and DDR SDRAM makers.
Not long afterward, Hitachi and Rambus announced a halt to their legal wrangling.
Kanadjian is confident that Rambus will come to an agreement with all manufacturers.
NEC's Aston Bridgman, assistant manager at NEC's public relations division in Tokyo, is one of those who is tired of all the legal battles Rambus is causing in the industry.
"I would like to know how Rambus feels about ending the legal disputes," Bridgman said Monday.
Kanadjian has a firm answer to that. "Our preference is to negotiate and come to an amicable agreement," he said. "We only have one suit right now and that is with Infineon. But it is like somebody living in your house, they should pay rent. If not, they are squatters. At the risk of annoying people, we believe it is our right to demand payment."
Rumors have circulated about the possibility of SDRAM manufacturers suing Rambus back. Kanadjian shrugs at the suggestion, and doesn't believe the rumors. But he has a message for those who might want to try.
"Any company can fight us in court, but if we win we can choose not to license them anymore," Kanadjian said.
Rambus has no intention of changing its course and starting to manufacture its own technology. When asked about the company's future mission, Kanadjian said, "Our goal is that our new technology QRSL (quad Rambus signaling levels) should be used in all gaming devices in the future."
Rambus was once promoted by Intel as the memory interface of choice for all desktop PCs. Rambus remains a relatively expensive technology, however, and PC makers have balked at using Rambus memory in their machines, raising questions about the memory designer's future.
Asked about the future of Rambus during a press briefing at IDF this week, Craig Barrett, Intel's chief executive officer and president, said Intel will continue to support Rambus in high-performance PCs because "we like the performance."
His comments outside of that were fairly noncommittal. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel's support for Rambus in lower performance PCs will depend on "market economics," Barrett said. "Our intention is not to hamstring ourselves," he added.
James Niccolai is a San Francisco-based senior correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate. Pia Landergren is a London correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
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