Hi all; Editorial on SDRAM lawsuits, "Kill or be killed":
Micron, Hyundai Sue Rambus Memory makers in fight for life
The battle for control of the DRAM market has come down to kill or be killed, as Micron Technology Inc. and Hyundai Electronic Industries Co. Ltd. both launched separate legal attacks against Rambus Inc. last week.
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"There are a lot of benefits of being the first one to sue," said Chaz De La Garza, a partner with the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski in Austin. "The first and most important (thing) is that you get to pick the forum. Micron has picked a good venue with good judges. They are not scared of patent disputes and they are not afraid of making difficult decisions."
Hyundai went on the warpath next, lodging a lawsuit with a U.S. District Court in San Jose on Tuesday. The South Korean company's complaint is not an antitrust action like Micron's. The lawsuit claims Rambus' patents covering SDRAM and DDR are invalid, unenforceable and not infringed by any Hyundai products. But the status of the suit could change. "We did not file an antitrust action, but we can amend our complaint at any time," said Jerry Olson, director of corporate affairs at Hyundai.
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Regardless of which company wins, Micron for the moment is hinting that it is determined to go the whole nine yards, making it a very different opponent from Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd., which all apparently threw in the towel rather than get snagged in court battles with Rambus.
Micron has taken the opening swing, now it should ready itself for the counterpunch, said Mark E. Brown, a partner and IP expert at Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP's law office in Los Angeles. "Once you file one of these, you are in a fight. You've jumped in and you have got to expect the other guy to hit back. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Rambus filing a counterclaim."
Micron faces an uphill battle in proving its case, Brown said. "The burden will be on Micron to prove the validity of their claims by clear and convincing arguments."
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But the antitrust argument is weak, according to Brown. "The antitrust claim may be farfetched. They have a relatively weak set of facts. That Rambus managed to deceive the whole industry? It's a lot to believe."
What Micron and Hyundai really need is evidence. If they can produce prior art and prove that Rambus' patents are based on someone else's work, they stand a good chance of winning.
"We've always believed there were some design notebooks out there that would prove the designs were done by the DRAM industry," said Sherry Garber, senior vice president at Semico Research Corp., Phoenix.
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Rambus is ready for battle, said Mark Edelstone, semiconductor analyst with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. "I know for a fact that Rambus has been preparing themselves and getting the resources in place to have three litigations going simultaneously," Edelstone said. "They certainly have the financial wherewithal to wage a long battle."
And it's a battle with much at stake. If Micron or Hyundai wins, no one will have to pay Rambus royalties on SDRAM or DDR. If they lose, the added cost of royalties could decimate their revenues. In a business where margins are already tight, the extra burden of 1 or 2 percent in royalties could cause real damage, said Jim Cantore, program manager of semiconductors at International Data Corp., Framingham, Mass. "In the memory market you live and die on your cost per megabit," he said.
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electronicnews.com
-- Carl |
