Rambus (RMBS)

[Threejack]

Bloomberg on HJW Decision


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Hynix Defeats Rambus’s Bid to Block DRAM Chip Sales (Update2)
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By Joel Rosenblatt

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Hynix Semiconductor Inc. can continue selling its DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory chips, a federal judge ruled in the company’s patent infringement case against Rambus Inc.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte in San Jose, California, rejected a request by Rambus asking him to block Hynix’s U.S. chip sales. The ruling is a victory for Hynix because the company faced a possible injunction, the most severe punishment in a patent-infringement lawsuit, against all of its memory types.

“Comparing the slight possibility that Rambus may suffer an irreparable harm to the immediate and devastating harm that an injunction would deal to Hynix, the balance clearly weighs in Hynix’s favor,” Whyte wrote in his ruling.

The order follows eight years of litigation between Rambus and Hynix, the world’s second-largest maker of computer memory chips, including a 2006 jury verdict that Ichon, South Korea- based Hynix illegally used Rambus’s patent designs in its chips. Whyte also ruled that Rambus can collect on the $133.4 million damage award it won against Hynix.

‘Firm Conviction’

Whyte wrote it is his “firm conviction” that Rambus sought an injunction to “increase its leverage” in negotiating a license with Hynix, or wanted to “punish Hynix out of spite for its decision to contest Rambus’s infringement allegations” and other grievances stemming from the memory industry’s rejection of Rambus’s earliest chip designs.

Rambus, a Los Altos, California-based designer and licensor of chips used in such products as Sony Corp.’s PlayStation video game, gets more than 80 percent of its revenue from royalties.

A Rambus spokeswoman, Linda Ashmore, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Hynix’s lawyer, Ken Nissly, declined to immediately comment.

Rambus rose 39 cents to $6.70 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading in New York.

The case is Hynix Semiconductor Inc. v. Rambus Inc., 00-cv- 20905, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

To contact the reporter on this story: Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco at [e-mail].

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aOFb19NuqDZI&refer=asia

Last Updated: February 23, 2009 17:10 EST

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If this is how the MMs and industry see the decision, then Rambus loses the PR war.

Rambus needs to issue a statement with a message for other MM litigants and non-litigant infringers. The window of opportunity is open to Mr. Hughes and Ms. Holt to seek resolution with the industry. The future is not SDRAM/DDR. The future is either XDR or licensing Rambus's DDR+ IP.

Can Rambus fashion a settlement with Hynix that can serve as a model for settlements with the other infringers? Time is running out on both parties.

Just my opinion.

Threejack