Los Altos, California-based Rambus has named Hynix Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies and its former parent Siemens, and Micro Technology in the suit. The companies have previously clashed in court over patent infringement claims and counter claims surrounding Rambus’ designs.
In yesterday’s suit, Rambus claims the companies engaged in: conspiracy to restrict output and fix prices; conspiracy to monopolize; intentional interference with prospective economic advantage; and unfair competition.
The suit asserts that the companies worked to stifle the introduction of Rambus’ RDRAM design.
Rambus’s role in the setting of memory standards in the 1990s and its subsequent introduction of its RDRAM standard, have been a bone of contention in the DRAM market for years.
Rambus launched litigation against a number of memory vendors in 2000, claiming their SDRAM products infringed its patents. While some settled with Rambus, others, notably Infineon Technologies, counter-claimed that Rambus had participated in the JEDEC standards body, without revealing that it had patented technology it submitted to the group. Litigation is ongoing.
Micron rejected Rambus claims yesterday, saying in a statement that, Rambus failed in the marketplace because of excessive manufacturing costs and minimal RDRAM demand.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
