Fool responds to CNET article
One advantage of Rambus's increasing clout in the field, is that new journalists, without settled opinions (aka, closed minds), are writing about the company.
I sent CNET journalist Rachel Konrad the following note:
Dear Ms. Konrad:
Thank you for the subject CNET article dated December 1, 2000, which is generally reasonably fair.
A few errors nonetheless occur in the article. Rambus sued Hitachi in January and settled in June. Rambus never sued Oki, NEC, or Toshiba. Indeed, the latter pair form part of the three DRAM manufacturers (Samsung is the other) allied with Intel against AMD and Micron (along with Hyundai
and Infineon). The AMD/Micron/Hyundai/Infineon group is promoting the alternative DDR technology, a temporary stopgap believed sufficient by some for a year or two. Rambus has not sued any of its allies. It is well worth
noting that NEC, Toshiba, and Samsung are all currently in volume RDRAM production, and all have recently announced increases associated with the Pentium 4. By contrast Micron has never produced RDRAM, and Hyundai and Infineon produced only token amounts last spring. (Although all three are
currently licensed).
Also, Micron and Hyundai sued Rambus first, with legal proceedings initiated in August, not September. Rambus did countersue in September; at least in four countries (France, Germany, Italy and the U.S.) against both
Micron and Hyundai. (Micron has a plant in Italy). It is true, however, that Hyundai sued only after Rambus gave them a deadline to reach agreement on SDRAM royalties.
Incidentally, most of the actual legal filings on both sides can be found at the independent site "www.rambusite.com".
Best wishes,
Patrick T. Newell
To which she responded:
Thanks so much for the note -- I'm looking into the other alleged lawsuits (which were widely reported). Until I can get more information, I've asked the copy desk to delete the paragraph in question. Thanks again.
Rachel Konrad
CNET News.com
I would say that Rachel Konrad is interested in getting to the truth. Incidentally, she is quite right that erroneous statements about Rambus's propensity for litigation have been widely reported. Occasionally one even hears a RMBS long mistakenly stating that Rambus sued Toshiba. Toshiba actually settled peacefully in June, 2000. Hitachi caved one week later. Rambus later stated that Toshiba sought Rambus out. It is probable that Sony was worried because Rambus was seeking an ITC injunction against the importation of Sega Dreamcast. Sony probably wanted everything settled with Rambus before the release of the PS2. Regardless of whether that is true, Rambus has never sued any of its allies. Once again, I commend Ms. Konrad for her interest in the facts.
boards.fool.com
Jack |
