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To: Poet who wrote (35302)	4/6/2001 10:41:32 AM
From: nolimitz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35685

Rambus allegedly had spy at JEDEC By Jack Robertson EBN (04/05/01, 02:59:34 PM EST) Rambus Inc. had a mole called "Secret Squirrel" tipping it off to private SDRAM deliberations at JEDEC (Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council) in 1997, Infineon Technologies has charged in the federal district court in Richmond, Va. Rambus had resigned a year earlier from the JEDEC committee drafting the SDRAM standard. However, Infineon attorneys presented internal e-mails from Rambus files from a hidden source identified only as "Secret Squirrel," allegedly leaking details of the JEDEC discussions on SDRAM after Rambus had left. Internal Rambus documents disclosed last month at the trial also show a source inside JEDEC called "Deep Throat" claimed to be keeping the memory design firm informed of the confidential SDRAM standards discussions. The alleged Rambus spies inside JEDEC surfaced when the transcript of a March 15 pretrial conference was recently released into the court record. Infineon lawyers told Federal Judge Robert Payne that the e-mails from "Secret Squirrel" and "Deep Throat" provided details of the DLL technology that JEDEC was considering and ultimately included in the SDRAM standard. They charged that Rambus then subsequently included the DLL technology as part of its amended SDRAM patent application on SDRAMs filed in 1997. Rambus attorneys told the court that Richard Crisp, Rambus engineer and recipient of the Secret Squirrel and Deep Throat e-mails, had no knowledge of where the messages came from, according to the transcript. "Mr. Crisp testified it was one of the most bizarre experiences of his life was receiving these e-mails," according to Rambus attorney David Pendarvis. John Desmarais, Infineon lawyer, told Judge Payne, "It goes directly to the scheme here, because what happens [is] Rambus continues to modify its pending patent applications after withdrawing from JEDEC until they get it finally right in the patents,,,and one of them is in this suit." The secret e-mail allegations are only the latest bizarre twist in the bitter SDRAM patent litigation between Rambus and Infineon, and also with Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. and Micron Technology in eight courts in the U.S. and in Europe. A series of other e-mails from Rambus' Richard Crisp were previously disclosed in the separate patent suit against Hyundai in the San Jose, Calif. federal court, which discussed the company's strategy against the SDRAM standard under discussion at JEDEC from 1992-96. The latest transcript showed Infineon introduced yet another Crisp e-mail from 1992 which the German chip maker claimed showed Rambus' attempt "to derail the SDRAM standard. One of the ways they were going to do that was what Mr. Crisp calls a press war by essentially, disparaging SDRAM in the press," said Infineon attorney Desmarais. The transcript disclosed that Infineon also took its knocks from Judge Payne at the pretrial hearing, when it tried to introduce a promotional videotape touting its DRAM fab at White Oak, Va. outside Richmond to provide a local interest slant for jurors. Judge Payne chastised the lawyers, "Come on. You look at me and you tell me with a straight face that this can come in [as evidence]." Infineon withdrew the tape as evidence.