Rambus Wins US$307million in latest round of DRAM patent dispute

Copyright Tuesday, April 25, 2006 Duncan Bucknell Company

On 24 April 2006, a Jury in the Northern District of California awarded Rambus US $306.9 million in damages for patent infringement of all 10 asserted claims of four of Rambus’s patents.

Click here for a copy of the Jury Verdict, here for Rambus’s press release and here for Hynix’s website.

Background

Rambus has prevailed in the latest round of a complicated series of patent infringement and antitrust litigation. For those who aren’t familiar with the memory chip industry, Rambus has previously sued a number of very large players in that space over allegations of patent infringement.. Click here for details of their current litigation (including court rulings, opinions and judgments).

Comment

Rambus’ business model is focused on creating and out-licensing IP.From an IP Strategy perspective, high-profile litigation is a natural product of this as it generates further out-licensing opportunities.Another well-known company which has utilized this strategy is Australian-based Genetic Technologies Ltd which recently settled its final patent dispute with Applera Corporation.