Judge Says Rambus Destroyed Evidence, But Patents Valid

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In the virtually never ending story of Rambus' patent infringement lawsuits against DRAM makers, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found the IP company guilty of destroying case relevant records.

The ruling is particularly spicy since Hynix had already been ordered to pay $397 million to Rambus for infringing its DDR SDRAM and SDR SDRAM patents.

There is a chance that this number will be reduced as a result of the new finding, even if a judge noted that Rambus did not deliberately shred the documents. Both firms were ordered to submit proposals on "reasonable and non-discriminatory" royalties that Hynix should pay Rambus. Needless to mention, Hynix welcomed the ruling and stated that it now feels that it should pay Rambus "considerably less" than what was agreed on before.

To the fortunes of Rambus, the judge also confirmed that Hynix infringed the company's patents and that the patents in question are valid. Rambus' stock gained $0.84 or 17 percent in Monday trading.

Rambus originally had filed the lawsuit against Hynix in August of 2000.

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Wolfgang Gruener
27 Comments Comment from the forums
  • frombehind
    The pattent trolls be trollin' mon!
    Reply
  • blurr91
    Rambus, the original patent troll. In fact, Rambus should sue Apple for stealing its idea.
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    blurr91Rambus, the original patent troll. In fact, Rambus should sue Apple for stealing its idea.What idea? I couldnt not think any but the style Rambus use to sue its competitor.
    Reply
  • greghome
    If they had played nice back then, their special RAMs would have taken over the market and they could have made more money via patents than with patent trolling now....... :P

    just my 2 cents
    Reply
  • This is the ___th time that RAMBUS destroyed its own evidence.
    Reply
  • master_chen
    Rambus destroyed the evidence
    Am I the only one who maniacally laughed out loud after reading that?
    Reply
  • echondo
    TomfreakWhat idea? I couldnt not think any but the style Rambus use to sue its competitor.
    I believe blurr91 is talking about the idea of Apple blatantly suing anyone and everyone over nothing, which is what is happening here.
    Reply
  • ddpruitt
    What's sad is this started out as a legitimate issue. Rambus just decided to turn it into their main revenue stream, this is what Apple is turning into.
    Reply
  • falchard
    blurr91Rambus, the original patent troll. In fact, Rambus should sue Apple for stealing its idea.
    IBM has already patented the process of patent trolling.
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    See, this is why Rambus can't sell any XDR2 DRAM to AMD.

    They keep picking on the folks with the fab plants. Rambus doesn't have their own fab plants.
    Reply