Rambus Loses Another Legal Battle
By TSC Staff
5/9/01 4:05 PM ET
The news for Rambus (RMBS:Nasdaq - news) is getting even worse.
Just days after having the remaining pieces of its key patent-infringement suit against Infineon Technologies (IFX:NYSE - news) tossed out , a federal court in Virginia Wednesday said Rambus committed fraud and ordered it to pay punitive damages of $3.5 million.
Rambus said it would immediately appeal the fraud verdict. "We are obviously disappointed in today's verdict and will immediately appeal,'' Geoff Tate, Rambus CEO, said in a statement. "The innovations at issue are Rambus inventions, and the evidence presented at trial made it clear that Infineon knew all along that they were Rambus inventions."
Rambus, in its broad efforts to get other chipmakers to pay for what it contends are its chip designs, had sued Infineon charging patent infringement. But a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia judge dismissed the last of those claims last week, punishing Rambus' stock.
Meanwhile, Infineon charged Rambus with fraud, a charge that revolved around its participation in JEDEC, or the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council, a trade group that worked on developing a standard for memory.
Rambus' stock closed Wednesday down 90 cents, or 6.6%, to $12.80. |
