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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Voltaire who wrote (1446)	9/14/2000 11:45:08 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 65232

SI's RMBS food fight thread found this FWIW.... By: waikikiguy $$$ Reply To: None Thursday, 14 Sep 2000 at 10:57 PM EDT Post # of 46034 Just Back From Patent Lawyer's... office. ($500.00 for largely NOTHING that we did not already have.) This is all from my notes: 1. She read the MU complaint. (She had never heard of RMBS until I told her about it - six-months ago. She claims she read a lot of the internet stuff I directed her to.) 2. She assures me that there is NO anti-trust issue. The INTC gang has played the thing perfectly - and so have the BUSdrivers. INTC is using ALL kinds of RAM; not just RDRAM. The BUS is offering licenses to ALL who want them. No anti-trust when you have a legal monopoly that you do NOT "abuse." No ABUSE here. (She ALSO confirms that the BUS does NOT have to license ANYBODY they do not WANT to license.) 3. She says the argument made by MU regarding RMBS "stealing" the stuff and patenting it is at the heart of the matter. She says it is largely "he-said-he-said." If RMBS claims they did not steal, MU has to PROVE that something was stolen; VERY HARD. (Signed disclosure documents would play against RMBS; signed "membership" agreements - JEDEC - would play against RMBS.) 3A: "Patterns of Conduct and Selective Enforcement." If JEDEC was really a "free-for-all-mess," like RMBS says it was, the JEDEC pirates cannot single out RMBS as the one guy they are going to "enforce against." (BUS has already raised this issue publicly.) 4. She says patent office will NEVER admit error. She says the 9-year study time is MUCH in favor of validity. (She also praised the "intellectual capacity" of the USPTO research folks. Just as I have said before, "MANY PHDs and EE smart folks.") 4A: She says that attacks of "prior art are usually an unsophisticated deadend." 5. She says, "You never know what can happen in court." DUH!!!!!!! 6. She says it is almost always easier to defend a lawsuit like MU's, than it is to prosecute a case like RMBS has made against the other infringers. The patents are presumed to be valid when their "enforcement capacity" is challenged; as in MU and Hyundai. But, in IFX, the US court has to look at the defendants' post-filing motions in a "more favorable light." 7. She said she would MUCH rather be on the RMBS legal team than on the infringers' team. 8. She said that the "institutions have tons of lawyers" that look at this kind of stuff. She said the market cap loss at MU - since the MU filing - is a good sign that the "experts" like the BUS' case better. 9. We talked about Europe. She agreed with me that we have a MUCH better chance for a "sure thing" over there. She agreed with me that the "anti-foreigner" worries are nonsense. (Their is "terrible racism" in Germany, but there is NOT xenophobic anti-Americanism --- AT ALL. She speculated that the BUS lawyers KNOW this very well. She said that everyone in Europe knows that you cannot "screw Americans" and expect them to continue to invest in European ventures.) 9A: She also pointed out the long history of European respect for intellectual property rights. (She agreed with me that the German - and French - courts are the BEST in the world. MOST of the judges are academics; --- and, even though they may also be politicians, they are NOT political hacks. No judge Ito-types in Europe; really!) 10. She says what ALL paid shysters say: "When you go to court, you have a "fiftfy-fifty chance of prevailing." (I got the sense that she was being very conservative, on account of me paying her for the opinion. I felt that if we were chatting in the bar, she would have been more pro-RMBS. I think these kind of people do not want to get pinned down --- and blamed later for bad advice. Even though I TOLD her that my interest was academic, and that I was NOT going to make any "investment decisions" based on her opinions.) 11. She thinks the lawyers will ALL make as much money as they can BEFORE they counsel a settlement. 12. She said she would buy 100 BUStickets in the morning. (I think she was serious!) Sorry, but this is just a "brain-dump," and it is really all I can recall. I think it is pretty complete, though. That is about it; I should have just bought another six-shares of RMBS!!! The contract lawyer is going to talk to me on Monday. I will let you know how bad HE burns me. (I am sorry for all the bad spelling and junk grammar, I just do not feel like checking it. Thanks for your understanding.) Good luck in the morning. ragingbull.altavista.com