The US chip designer Rambus has been sued by a group of its
shareholders in a case filed on Friday in the US District Court of
California. The lawsuit alleges that during the course of Rambus’
legal dispute with German chip maker Infineon, it became clear that
some of Rambus’ patents relating to computer memory had been
fraudulently obtained. The investors claim that the were misled
about the status of these patents and the royalties that the
company would gain form them.
The lawsuit was filed on the same day that a US district court
set aside part of the earlier verdict that Rambus had been guilty
of fraudulently obtaining certain patents. However, the court
allowed other findings of fraud to stand and ordered Rambus to pay
Infineon the sum of $7.1 million in legal fees.
The Court found that Rambus did not commit fraud when it
allegedly hid its patents for double data rate SDRAM memory
technology from the industry body, JEDEC. However, the court also
found that Rambus did commit fraud with single data rate SDRAM
technology by filing for patents on SDRAM technology without
informing JEDEC. The result was a partial victory for Rambus,
meaning it can now bring patent infringement proceedings in
connection with double data rate SDRAM.
Legal wrangles have contributed to an 82% drop in the value of
Rambus shares since February. Its shares now trade below $10, down
from a high of $450.
