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U.S. judge rules Rambus subject to trial-Bloomberg
Wednesday March 5, 12:13 pm ET


NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge denied a request by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to move straight to the penalty phase in an antitrust case against computer chip maker Rambus Inc. (NasdaqNM:RMBS - News), but limited the defenses that Rambus can offer, Bloomberg reported on its Web site on Tuesday.

Administrative Law Judge James Timony ruled that Rambus was entitled to an administrative trial, Bloomberg reported.

The FTC filed antitrust charges against Rambus in August accusing the company of improperly patenting key computer chip technologies. The FTC told Administrative Law Judge James Timony in January that Rambus had forfeited its right to a trial because Rambus destroyed potentially incriminating documents in the late 1990s.

Rambus has maintained that its document destruction was part of the company's regular document retention policy. A representative of Rambus could not be reached immediately.

Rambus shares fell $1.54, or 10 percent, to $13.91 in late-morning trade on Nasdaq.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030305/tech_rambus_report_1.html