Rambus Probe

February 5, 2001 4:10 PM

Some pretty big news, the Federal Trade Commission is starting an investigation against Rambus, the infamous memory maker. The FTC will be investigating whether Rambus has violated rules by failing to disclose it was going after patents for synchronous DRAM when the technology was being discussed an open JEDEC session

The FTC is looking at whether Rambus (stock: RMBS) violated JEDEC rules by failing to disclose it was pursuing patents for synchronous DRAM, even as the technology was being discussed in an open JEDEC session. Though the FTC does not comment on fact-finding missions, analysts and industry executives involved in the JEDEC deliberations said they have been questioned by FTC investigators.
When contacted last week, a Rambus spokeswoman said the company knew nothing about a probe and has not been contacted by the FTC.

Most of the Rambus stories in the media are negative because of the aggressive royalty pursuit from patents that they own, which others say they obtained illegally. Some of these stories are Rambus sueing Infineon, settlements with Hitachi and Toshiba, Rambus and NVidia and Hyundai sueing Rambus. Thanks t0m.