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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Green who wrote (40538)	4/21/2000 12:23:00 AM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

U.S. trade body steps into Rambus patent dispute By Clare Haney THE U.S. INTERNATIONAL Trade Commission (ITC) on Thursday announced it is to investigate whether two Japanese companies have infringed patents held by U.S. chip design firm Rambus. The ITC has determined to begin an investigation of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic random access memory) devices and microprocessors used in computers and video game consoles, the trade organization said in a statement issued Thursday. The investigation stems from a complaint Rambus filed last month with the ITC against Hitachi and Sega Enterprises and their respective U.S. operations -- Hitachi Semiconductor (America), based in San Jose, California, and Sega of America, based in San Francisco, California. Rambus alleged that the Japanese companies have violated section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 in relation to the importing and sale of chips and products containing chips that violate Rambus patents. The U.S. firm has asked the ITC to issue a permanent exclusion order against such imported products along with a permanent cease-and-desist order. In Thursday's statement, the ITC stressed that beginning an investigation doesn't mean that the organization has made any determinations concerning the merits of Rambus' complaint. Debra Morriss, ITC administrative law judge, will take on the case and hold an evidentiary hearing. The judge will decide whether section 337 has been violated and her initial determination is then subject to an ITC review. Neither Hitachi Semiconductor (America) or Sega of America was immediately available to comment Thursday. Rambus has already filed two lawsuits against Hitachi related to the alleged infringement of its patents. In January, the U.S. computer memory designer filed a lawsuit against Hitachi and its U.S. subsidiary Hitachi Semiconductor (America) in the U.S. Federal District Court in Delaware in an attempt to try and prevent the sale of certain products, including memory chips and Hitachi's SH microprocessors, in the U.S. market. Earlier this month, Rambus also filed suit against Hitachi in Germany. When Rambus filed its complaint with the ITC, the company also added Sega Enterprises along with Hitachi alleging Sega was using Hitachi's SH microprocessors in its Dreamcast games machine. Rambus, in Mountain View, Calif., is at www.rambus.com/. Hitachi Ltd., based in Tokyo, is at www.hitachi.com/. Sega Enterprises Ltd., based in Tokyo, is at www.sega.com/. Clare Haney is the San Francisco bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.