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

To: Neil Booth who wrote (67775)	3/15/2001 3:13:33 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Expected Rambus Ruling Could Limit Scope Of Patents By Steven Fyffe, Electronic News Mar 15, 2001 --- A judge is expected to issue an official pre-trial ruling limiting the scope of Rambus Inc.’s patents in the U.S. court case against Infineon Technologies AG, according to industry sources close to the case. Yesterday, sources told Electronic News a ruling had been made. However, no written ruling has yet been issued, but “an order is in the making”, a court clerk said today. Judge Robert E Payne, who is hearing the case in the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., would kill Rambus’ (nasdaq: RMBS) royalty claims on SDRAM and double data rate (DDR) memory if he accepts testimony from Infineon’s expert witness, sources said. “(The Markman) testimony was that the Rambus patent is a multiplex bus, and that we don’t use the multiplex bus in our SDRAM or DDR products,” the source said. “It means that because we don’t use the multiplex bus they use in their patents…we are not in violation of their patents.” Micron Technology Inc. and Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd. use the same bus architecture as Infineon. The judge has also agreed to allow crime-fraud allegations to be heard at the trial, according to an article in The Register. The judge issued the following statement on March 7, they reported Wednesday. “Attorney-client privilege has been forfeited under the crime-fraud exception as to certain topics, and therefore the Defendants may conduct depositions of Messrs Diepenbrock, Vincent, Crisp, Mitchell and Tate respecting the legal advice provided about disclosures of patents and patent applications to JEDEC by Rambus Inc, the disclosure policy of JEDEC and about the efforts by Rambus, Inc. to broaden its patents to cover matters pertaining to the JEDEC standards.” If individuals are convicted of fraud, it could mean more than a financial slap on the wrist, sources said. “This means that people could go to jail. That’s what this means,” the source said. Rambus would not comment for this story.