Rambus is seeking to stop the sale, manufacture and use of Hyundai products that Rambus says infringe its patents. It is also asking the International Trade Commission (ITC) in the US to investigate Hyundai for alleged unlawful imports of the chips that Rambus says infringe its patents. In March it sued Hitachi for alleged patent infringement, although that case has since settled.
Rambus said yesterday that the suits were filed after negotiations over Rambus' intellectual property rights were pre-empted by the filing of a lawsuit by Hyundai in the United States, alleging that Rambus’ patents are illegal.
“[Intellectual property] is our business and we will not hesitate to protect our IP when it is being used without a license”, said Geoff Tate, CEO of Rambus. “Rambus develops and licenses intellectual property - since the early 1990s, we established and still maintain the leadership in high bandwidth chip connection technology. Our objective is to continue to produce innovations that will benefit the semiconductor and systems industries, and by licensing these innovations to generate a return on investment to our shareholders.”