An Italian court has refused a request by chip-designer Rambus for
a court order to stop Micron Technology producing memory chips.
Rambus claims the SDRAM products infringe its patents. Micron
denies any infringement. The case is similar to one that Rambus
recently lost against Infineon Technologies of Germany.
The judge in Monza, Italy, declined a request for a preliminary
injunction against Micron, and the case will now proceed to the
district court of Milan. The court appointed independent experts in
the Monza court determined that the Rambus patents were valid and
that Micron’s SDRAM products infringed them, however, the court
overruled their findings.
"We are disappointed with the Monza judge's decision to overrule
the conclusions of the expert report," said Geoff Tate, CEO of
Rambus, "but we look forward to receiving a full hearing on our
infringement case against Micron in Milan. Rambus is committed to
protecting its intellectual property, and it is our right, as well
as our obligation to our shareholders to take all the appropriate
measures to protect our patented innovations."
Rambus is involved in a number of other patent infringement
lawsuits. In the recent US action it brought against Infineon, the
court threw out all 57 of Rambus’ infringement claims and allowed a
jury to consider Infineon’s counter-claim. Consequently, Rambus was
found guilty of fraud and ordered to pay $3.5 million in punitive
damages. It has said it will appeal the ruling.
