Rambus reasserts pressure in Taiwan

Mike Clendenin, EE Times
(05/03/2006 6:32 AM EDT)

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Fresh from a court room win over Hynix Semiconductor Inc., Rambus Inc. is once again knocking on the doors of DRAM and memory controller makers in Asia with the hope of striking licensing agreements that cover its patents in memory technology.

“We’re letting people know that delaying isn’t the best strategy,” said Sharon Holt, senior vice president of marketing and sales. Although Rambus has been in talks with Taiwan’s major memory makers for some time, she believes “the verdict gives them some incentive to negotiate a little more seriously.”

Last week, a federal jury awarded Rambus more than $306.9 million in a patent infringement dispute with South Korean chipmaker Hynix. The jury agreed that Hynix infringed a number of patents covering fundamental aspects of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM. The damage award covers only Hynix sales of SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, and DDR2 memory products to the U.S. between June 2000 and the end of 2005.

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