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

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (44966)	6/19/2000 2:10:00 AM
From: Scumbria	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 93625

Zeev, Thanks for the explanation. It is obviously more valuable to hold IP, than to have product. Product creates liability to others IP. You have stated that royalties can be required up to and above the entire profit margin of a product. Perhaps one of the large DRAM companies will stop making product, and force all the other companies to pay royalties for infringed patents? According to Carl, every single DRAM being sold infringes lots of patents. By eliminating their own product line, they will no longer need cross-licensing, and can concentrate on the honorable business of collecting royalties for IP. Rambus-Toshiba is setting a very interesting set of precedents, which can potentially wreak massive havoc on the electronics industry. Scumbria

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (44966)	6/19/2000 7:38:00 AM
From: Dr. David Gleitman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Good Morning Zeev: I'm a new poster on the RMBS thread. I have Held RMBS for the past 3 months and have made it a habit of selling CC's, which worked pretty well until friday morning, when it shot (way) past my strike price. If they could have only held out on their announcement for 24 hours. Anyway, so much for the risk taking. My question to you is that with all of the shares being traded/ calls being executed, my feeling is that there is going to be some early selling of rmbs, since a number of people may not have the money to exercise their calls which may result in a temporary retreat. Any thoughts on this. I'd like to jump back in, but not at 20 points above my sold strike price. David

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (44966)	6/19/2000 8:26:00 AM
From: gnuman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Zeev, some IP questions. While Intel has a Rambus contractual incentive to sell the i820/840 chip sets, do they also pay royalties on these? If Rambus is successful in the SDRAM/DDRDRAM IP wars, can they differentiate the market by "side of the bus?" Is it possible to create Agreements for chipset makers that are considerably more favorable than for memory chip makers? Considering chip sets sell in excess of 100 million units/year, this may be a multi billion dollar business in itself, with VIA claiming they will capture 50% share. Can someone with similar market share insist on similar MFC terms and conditions? (Seem's this could be a very sensitive issue from a number of standpoints). TIA and JMHO's <g>

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (44966)	6/19/2000 8:58:00 AM
From: SnowShredder	Respond to of 93625

<edit...sorry for the repeat : )> More royalty stuff... cnetinvestor.com >>>>> NEC, Others Likely to Follow Toshiba on Rambus, Analysts Say 6/19/00 4:13:00 AM Source: Bloomberg News Tokyo, June 19 (Bloomberg) -- NEC Corp., Japan's biggest chipmaker, and Hitachi Ltd. will probably follow Toshiba Corp.'s decision to pay royalties to Rambus Inc. for use of memory chip technology, analysts said. Some manufacturers have balked at making Rambus-based products, saying they're difficult and expensive to make. Others have pushed alternatives to keep from having to pay royalties, though Rambus says its patents cover the alternatives. The Toshiba decision to recognize the patents could force others to pay. Toshiba, Japan's second-largest chipmaker, signed an agreement with Mountain View, California-based Rambus on Friday, covering use of Rambus' technology in high-speed dynamic random access memories, the most commonly used memories for computers. ''NEC should enter the same contract (as Toshiba) because it's difficult to produce memories for fast computers without Rambus technology,'' Yoshihide Ohtake, an analyst at Tsubasa Research Institute Ltd. Hitachi, Japan's third-largest chipmaker, would follow NEC, because the two companies have a joint venture to develop DRAMs, he said. Earlier this year, Rambus sued Hitachi for violating the same patents that Toshiba has agreed to recognize. Samsung, Fujitsu Rambus' computer-memory technology helps speed personal computers and other devices by taking full advantage of faster processors from chipmakers like Intel Corp. NEC spokesman Aston Bridgman declined to comment on whether NEC would follow Toshiba's lead. ''We are watching what's happening between Rambus and Hitachi very closely because NEC is involved with both companies,'' Bridgeman said. Korea's Samsung Electronics, the world's largest computer memory chipmaker and the largest producer of Rambus technology- based chips, said it's already paying royalties. ''Rambus has worked closely with us in designing our chips,'' said company spokeswoman Cho Sung In. Japanese chipmakers lost money on DRAMs last year as rivals, such as Korea's Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology Inc. of the U.S., lowered prices. To compete, NEC and Hitachi said they would jointly develop DRAMs. Other Japanese chipmakers cut the portion of DRAM output in their overall chip production. Fujitsu may be the last Japanese chipmaker to agree to pay the royalties, Ohtake said, because it's scaling down its DRAM business. Eventually, however, ''all the DRAM makers will end up having to pay royalties to Rambus,'' said Steve Myers, an analyst at Jardine Fleming Securities Japan Ltd. ''I think those who settle earlier will pay somewhat lower royalties than those who settle later.''