To: slacker711 who wrote (858 ) 8/24/2007 1:11:24 PM From: Eric L Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 9132 The EC and Rambus: Statement of Objections issued. You have referenced this elsewhere but I don't think anything on the specific subject has been posted here. The "patent ambush" proceedings are the first of its kind under EU anti-trust law. >> Rambus Receives European Commission Statement of Objectives Rambus Press Release Los Altos, CA, United States 08/22/2007 Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) today confirmed that the European Commission has issued a Statement of Objections against the Company alleging violations of European Union competition law. The Statement of Objections follows complaints set forth by certain DRAM manufacturers originating with Rambus’ 1992-1995 participation in an industry standard-setting organization, the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council ("JEDEC"). "The issues raised by the European Commission include Rambus’ participation in JEDEC that ended over a decade ago," said Thomas Lavelle, senior vice president and general counsel at Rambus. "These are largely the same issues examined by a number of US courts, the Federal Trade Commission, and currently before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. We are studying the Statement of Objections and plan to respond in due course." A Statement of Objections is a procedural step in the European Commission's antitrust investigation, in which the Commission communicates its preliminary view with respect to a possible infringement of European Union competition law. The European Commission will review responses to the Statement of Objections in order to determine whether to issue a final Decision. Any Decision would be subject to appeal to both the European Court of First Instance and the European Court of Justice. The Company will present its response to the Commission's Statement of Objections over the next several months. Rambus first filed a patent application for its revolutionary memory technology in 1990 and proceeded to teach the industry how to apply that technology, subject to nondisclosure agreements. By invitation, Rambus later joined a JEDEC committee that was developing a DRAM standard. Today, Rambus' industry-leading memory architecture solutions can be found in dozens of products including personal computers, servers, workstations, video game consoles, high-definition TVs, set-top boxes, and networking routers and switches.About Rambus Inc. Rambus is one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing in the invention and design of high-speed chip architectures. Since its founding in 1990, the Company's patented innovations, breakthrough technologies and renowned integration expertise have helped industry-leading chip and system companies bring superior products to market. Rambus' technology and products solve customers' most complex chip and system-level interface challenges enabling unprecedented performance in computing, communications and consumer electronics applications. Rambus licenses both its world-class patent portfolio as well as its family of leadership and industry-standard interface products. Headquartered in Los Altos, California, Rambus has regional offices in North Carolina, India, Germany, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com. EU Commission Charges Rambus with "Patent Ambush" Reuters (Brussels) August 23, 2007 The European Commission confirmed on Thursday that it had formally charged U.S. electronic chip maker Rambus (RMBS with deceptive "patent ambush" for claiming "unreasonable royalties". The company announced on Wednesday it had received a so-called "statement of objections". The announcement by the Commission, the European Union's top antitrust regulator, fleshed out details of the charges. The Commission said Rambus had "engaged in intentional deceptive conduct in the context of the standard-setting process" by failing to disclose the existence of patents it later claimed were relevant for a standard that was adopted. It said an appropriate remedy would be for Rambus to charge a reasonable and non-discriminatory royalty rate. Rambus makes dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) for use in computers, communications and other consumer products. DRAMs had been standardised by an industry-wide U.S.-based standard setting organisation, JEDEC, the Commission said. "Rambus owns and is asserting patents which it claims cover the technology included in these JEDEC standards," the Commission said. "Therefore, every manufacturer wishing to produce synchronous DRAM chips or chipsets consequently must either acquire a licence from Rambus or litigate its asserted patent rights." In its announcement on Wednesday, the company noted that this was not the first legal action over its patents. "These are largely the same issues examined by a number of U.S. courts, the Federal Trade Commission, and currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit," Rambus General Counsel Thomas Lavelle said in a statement. "We are studying the statement of objections and plan to respond in due course." ### - Eric -