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To: T L Comiskey who wrote (31002)	8/29/2000 8:06:34 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35685

Interesting angle being played by Micron Tech......... Seems they aren't going to argue whether the patents are valid, but how they were obtained..... Tuesday August 29 1:46 PM ET Micron Sues Rambus Over Patents By MARK WARBIS, Associated Press Writer BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A Micron Technology Inc. executive said a federal lawsuit filed against competitor Rambus Inc. (NasdaqNM:RMBS - news) is an attempt to head off potential Rambus claims that Micron has infringed on some of its patents. Kipp Bedard, Boise-based Micron's vice president of corporate affairs, said Tuesday that the Mountain View, Calif.-based Rambus recently filed patent-infringement allegations against other semiconductor manufacturers, including Hitachi Ltd. ``Rambus has made public comments about how aggressive they will be in regards to their patent portfolio,'' Bedard said. ``They contacted us last week to begin a process of scheduling some meetings. So we felt that, in view of their past performance and evaluating what's best for our shareholders and best for Micron, that we better file a suit.'' A complaint was filed as a preemptive strike late Monday in U.S. District Court in Delaware, where Micron is incorporated, the company said. It asserts violations of federal antitrust laws, as well as invalidity, non-infringement and non-enforceability of eight Rambus patents. Rambus officials did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Shares of Micron were down $1.25 to $88.063 on the New York Stock Exchange, while shares of Rambus were down $6 to $78 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Micron's lawsuit cites both companies' participation during the 1990s in a semiconductor industry association that had the goal of developing open technical standards for computer chips known as ``synchronous dynamic random access memory,'' or SDRAM. Instead, Micron alleges, Rambus applied for patents on the technology without informing other association members and now is pursuing a campaign ``designed to exact essentially nonnegotiable licenses bearing exorbitant royalties from these manufacturers.'' In June, Rambus announced that the Tokyo-based Hitachi had agreed to an out-of-court settlement of a patent infringement complaint. The settlement includes an undisclosed upfront fee and continuing quarterly royalty payments. ``Rambus subverted the open standards process so that it could gain monopoly control over the Synchronous DRAM technology and the Synchronous DRAM markets,'' according to Micron's complaint. ``Rambus defrauded and misled Micron and other members of the association into believing that it did not have any patent rights relevant to the standards and/or which it would assert against manufacturers under the standards.'' Micron Technology and its subsidiaries, with nearly 16,000 employees, manufacture and market DRAMs, very fast SRAMs, Flash, other semiconductor components, memory modules and personal computer systems. Rambus is an intellectual property company that designs, develops and licenses semiconductor memory and high-speed interconnection technology for use by manufacturers. Products developed from Rambus technology are used mainly in personal computers, workstations and home video games. dailynews.yahoo.com

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (31002)	8/29/2000 8:22:24 PM
From: Dealer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35685

TL, Another good one of your "Enquirer Reports". Did ya ever wonder why this sorta stuff never happens in the US. It is always Australia, England, etc. However can you imagine the guy that cut it open....I would have died....... Thanks I enjoyed that one.....Now there is a "deadhead" rosie............. &hearts; dealie