FTC piles onto Rambus’ standardization skullduggery

Richard H Stern

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2002)

The Rambus standardization skullduggery saga continues. As related in the May/June, July/August, and September/October 2001 Micro Law columns, SDRAM technology licensor Rambus sued chipmaker Infineon for patent infringement because Infineon refused to take a license under Rambus' patents. (SDRAMs are synchronous dynamic random-access memory chips. Instead of running asynchronously (like ordinary DRAMs), SDRAMs are refreshed by a synchronous system clock. By 1999, SDRAM had largely replaced asynchronous DRAM.) Infineon then countersued for common-law fraud based on Rambus' alleged abuse of the standard-setting process.