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Ruling talk routs Rambus
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May 1, 2001: 12:54 p.m. ET
Reported dismissal of patent claims sends memory specialist's stock tumbling
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Shares of computer-memory technology specialist Rambus Inc. fell sharply Tuesday on a report that a federal judge has tossed out most of the raft of patent claims the company had filed against German semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies AG.
The stock tumbled more than 7 percent after the electronics industry trade publication Electronic Buyers' News reported on its Web site late Monday that U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne, who has been hearing the case in Richmond, Va., dismissed all but three of the more than 50 infringement claims Rambus made against Infineon.
Rambus (RMBS: down $1.30 to $15.70, Research, Estimates) makes money by licensing a memory-chip design -- called Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory, or RDRAM -- which speeds up computer memory systems by accelerating the exchange of data between the computer's memory banks and their surrounding support-logic chips.
The company has been embroiled in a patent dispute with Infineon, which Rambus claims infringed on its patents in the design of some of its products. Rambus' stock has been volatile as the case wends its way through the legal process.
Infineon (IFX: up $1.24 to $43.90, Research, Estimates), one of the world's largest suppliers of computer memory chips, has argued that Rambus improperly obtained the technical specifications for some of the patents it claimed Infineon had infringed on, and was using the suit as a way to broaden the scope of its protected designs.
Some analysts on Wall Street who have followed the case said that Payne's recent decisions signaled a leaning against Rambus and in favor of Infineon.
On top of tossing out all but the three remaining claims Rambus has made against Infineon, Payne also said that even if the evidence were to show Infineon did infringe on those patents, he would not find the company guilty of willfully doing so, according the Electronic Buyers' News report.
Attorneys for Infineon also asked Payne to dismiss the entire case based on an earlier ruling that limited Rambus' claim to a certain memory-design element which it says its chips do not use, the report said.
Payne is weighing Monday's findings to determine whether there is enough evidence left in Rambus' corner to allow its case to continue, according to the Electronic Buyers' News report. Infineon is in the process of presenting evidence regarding its counterclaim, which is a separate issue from Rambus' patent infringement allegations but is being heard as part of the same trial. The proceedings are expected to resume Thursday. 
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