In 1990, California-based Rambus obtained a patent on a
technology called RDRAM - Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory – and
continued to work on that technology throughout the 1990s.
At some point after 1990, Rambus joined the Joint Electron
Device Engineering Council(JEDEC), an industry association that was
trying to set a standard for another type of memory technology, the
synchronous dynamic random access memory, or SDRAM.
The FTC charges that while Rambus was a member of the JEDEC it
amended its original patent to include technologies that the JEDEC
were at the time discussing with regard to SDRAM. The FTC has
stepped in because Rambus is now seeking royalties from those
patents.
Controversially, the court was allowed to see documents, written
by Rambus’ patent lawyer at the time, which allegedly prove this
deception. Normally such papers are covered by the attorney-client
privilege, but an earlier court ruling had lifted the privilege
because of evidence that the company had destroyed important
documents relating to the case.
FTC Deputy Competition Director Sean Royall told the court that
the notes show that Rambus had been advised by its own lawyers to
“stop what it was doing” and step down from the JEDEC.
"We are here because Rambus simply refused to play by the
rules," said Royall. "Rambus seeks to cling to a potential fortune
in royalties that it acquired not through competition, but through
deception."
Royall argued that the company had been under a duty to disclose
the patents to the JEDEC before entering into a discussion on
industry standards.
Rambus denies the charges. Gregory Stone, attorney for the
company, assured the court, "We're here because Rambus wants fair
compensation for [its] inventions”.
In a statement issued on Monday Rambus said, “The inventions
were described in detail in publicly available patent documents
that were discussed at JEDEC and that were closely scrutinized by
JEDEC members. The evidence will show that Rambus made detailed
disclosures of its technology prior to joining JEDEC to numerous
companies in the industry.”
Rambus will be encouraged in its argument by the recent decision
in its favour in a separate case against Infineon Technologies.
Here the Appeal Court concluded that there had been no fraud with
regard to the JEDEC. Infineon is expected to appeal.
