Patent infringement pursued against same companies in U.S.
District Court
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS), one of the world's premier technology
licensing companies, today announced it has filed a complaint with the
United States International Trade Commission (ITC) requesting the
commencement of an investigation pertaining to products from Broadcom
Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., LSI Corporation, MediaTek
Inc., NVIDIA Corporation and STMicroelectronics N. V. The complaint
seeks an exclusion order barring the importation, sale for importation,
or sale after importation of products from Broadcom, Freescale, LSI,
NVIDIA and STMicroelectronics that infringe certain patents from the
Dally1 family of patents, and of products from Broadcom,
Freescale, LSI, MediaTek and STMicroelectronics that infringe certain
patents from the Barth family of patents. In an earlier investigation
requested by Rambus, the ITC found that these same Barth patents were
valid and infringed by NVIDIA products, and issued an exclusion order in
July of this year.
"We have been attempting to license these companies for some time to no
avail. One of the respondents frankly told us that the only way they
would get serious is if we sued them. Others pursued a strategy of delay
rather than negotiate a reasonable resolution," said Harold Hughes,
president and chief executive officer at Rambus. "Rambus has invested
hundreds of millions of dollars developing a portfolio of technologies
that are foundational for many digital electronics. There is widespread
knowledge within the industry about our patents including their use in
standards-compatible products accused in these actions. In fairness to
our shareholders and to our paying licensees, we take these steps to
protect our patented innovations and pursue fair compensation for their
use."
For the Dally patents, the accused semiconductor products from these
companies include ones that incorporate PCI Express, certain Serial ATA,
certain Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), and DisplayPort interfaces. In the
case of the Barth patents, the accused semiconductor products include
ones that incorporate DDR, DDR2, DDR3, mobile DDR, LPDDR, LPDDR2, and
GDDR3 memory controllers. Accused semiconductor products in the
complaint include graphics processors, media processors, communications
processors, chip sets and other logic integrated circuits (ICs).
In addition to Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek, NVIDIA and
STMicroelectronics, the ITC complaint names companies whose products
incorporate the accused semiconductor products and are imported, sold
for importation, or sold after importation into the United States. These
products include personal computers, workstations, servers, routers,
mobile phones and other handheld devices, set-top boxes, Blu-ray
players, motherboards, plug-in cards, hard drives and modems. The ITC is
expected to decide whether to initiate an investigation under this
complaint within 30-45 days.
Rambus today also filed separate actions for patent infringement against
Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek and STMicroelectronics in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of California. The
lawsuits allege that semiconductor products with certain memory
controllers and/or serial links from the above companies infringe
certain patents from the Farmwald-Horowitz, Barth, and Dally patent
families. In the case of MediaTek, only infringement of the Barth and
Farmwald-Horowitz patents for certain memory controllers is alleged.
Rambus also filed an action in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of California against NVIDIA for infringement of
certain Dally patents. The categories of accused semiconductor products
in the District Court complaints include the same categories accused in
the ITC complaint, as well as SDR memory controllers. Rambus is seeking
injunctive relief barring the infringement, contributory infringement,
and inducement to infringe the patents, as well as monetary damages.
Rambus management will discuss the filing of these actions during a
special conference call today at 5:00 p.m. PT. The call will be webcast
and can be accessed through the Rambus website. A replay will be
available following the call on Rambus' Investor Relations website or
for one week at the following numbers: (800) 642-1687 (domestic) or
(706) 645-9291 (international) with ID# 29122159. Further information
regarding these legal actions will be made available at http://investor.rambus.com
in the Litigation Update section.
1 Rambus is the exclusive licensee for the Dally family of
patents which are owned by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This
license was assigned to Rambus as a part of its 2003 acquisition of
technology and IP from Velio Communications, a company founded by Dr.
William Dally.
About Rambus Inc.
Rambus is one of the world's premier technology licensing companies.
Founded in 1990, the Company specializes in the invention and design of
architectures focused on enriching the end-user experience of electronic
systems. Rambus' patented innovations and breakthrough technologies help
industry-leading companies bring superior products to market. Rambus
licenses both its world-class patent portfolio, as well as its family of
leadership and industry-standard solutions. Headquartered in Sunnyvale,
California, Rambus has regional offices in North Carolina, Ohio, India,
Germany, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Additional information is available
at www.rambus.com.
RMBSLN
Rambus Public Relations
Linda Ashmore, 408-462-8411
lashmore@rambus.com
Source: Rambus Inc.
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