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

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (72186)	5/7/2001 3:37:57 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Judge tosses out Infineon's antitrust claim against Rambus By Jack Robertson, EBN May 7, 2001 (11:47 AM) URL: ebnews.com RICHMOND, Va. - Federal Judge Robert Payne has tossed out Infineon Technologies' antitrust counterclaim against Rambus Inc. in the SDRAM patent infringement trial -- but allowed charges of Rambus fraud and RICO racketeering to go to the jury. Both sides are expected to make their closing arguments Tuesday in the Richmond, Va., federal district court, and the jury is expected to get the case on the same day. Depending on how long the jury deliberates, a final decision on the fraud and RICO allegations, the only remaining issues in the trial, could come as early as tomorrow as well. Judge Payne last Friday dismissed all Rambus synchronous patent infringement claims against Infineon, ruling the synchronous patents covered only memory chips using a multiplexed bus, which the German chip maker doesn't use. However, the judge Monday took Infineon to task, sharply criticizing the firm's attorneys for questioning his Friday ruling that they failed to prove antitrust allegations against Rambus. He rejected Infineon's request that he reconsider that ruling dismissing the antitrust counter-charge. The remaining fraud and RICO counts stem from Infineon's counterclaim that Rambus deliberately hid its synchronous patent applications from the industry JEDEC committee which was drafting an open SDRAM standard, while Rambus was a member of that body. Rambus has denied the charges, retorting that JEDEC patent disclosure rules were ambiguous and not followed by other companies involved in drafting the SDRAM standard. Depending on how the jury rules, the remaining fraud and RICO counts will determine whether Rambus will be set back even further by being forced to pay damages to Infineon in the infringement case that it itself filed against the memory chip maker. The fraud and RICO charges against Rambus are only involved in the Infineon civil case. Although RICO is a federal anti-racketeering law, it is a factor in the Richmond trial only for determining potential punitive damages and for a finding that the Rambus synchronous patents are unenforceable. No criminal charges are involved even if the jury finds Rambus guilty of such actions. If the jury finds that Rambus was guilty of fraud or racketeering, Judge Payne also the option to declare that such behavior makes the Rambus synchronous patents unenforceable against Infineon. Legal sources at the trial said Infineon is still seeking the unenforceable patent ruling as an extra safeguard from any possible appellate court decision reversing Judge Payne's original dismissal of infringement claims. That would give the German chip maker a second line of defense in case it lost in the appellate court on Judge Payne's narrow ruling on Rambus multiplexed bus coverage. The legal sources said that even if Rambus synchronous patents were declared unenforceable in the Richmond court, the decision immediately affects only Infineon. The two other SDRAM patent litigants against Rambus -- Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor (formerly Hyundai Electronics) -- would have to raise the same issue in their separate court trials, which could be decided differently. The Federal Trade Commission is known to be investigating Rambus' failure to disclose its SDRAM patent applications to JEDEC. The FTC has declined to comment, citing its traditional policy to discuss only an officially-filed legal action. When asked to comment Rambus has consistently responded that the firm has not been contacted by the FTC. However, others in the industry say they have been contacted about the issue by FTC investigators.