Technology licensing company
Rambus Inc.
(
RMBS
) received an untoward ruling by a U.S. District Judge in a
long-drawn (almost 12 years) antitrust battle with
Micron Technology Inc.
(
MU
), reports Bloomberg. Per the decision, Rambus will be restricted
from demanding royalties from Micron for the use of its 12
patented DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chip designing
technologies.
It all began with an antitrust lawsuit that was filed by Micron
against Rambus in the year 2000. Micron alleged that Rambus was
dominating the DRAM market by obtaining patents wrongfully.
During trials, it was found that certain Rambus officials were
engaged in destroying evidence that could prove the company
guilty of unlawfully seeking patents for its technologies by
misleading the patent-issuing authority.
In November 2011, Rambus faced another legal blow. A long time
back, Rambus had dragged Micron and Hynix Semiconductor to court
on antitrust charges including conspiracy to fix DRAM prices and
prevent its RDRAM memory technology from gaining traction in the
market. The company had sought damages from Micron and Hynix for
an amount totaling approximately $3.9 billion.
After considering the case for two months post trial, the jury
negated the claims and cleared the defendants of all liabilities.
Rambus and Micron have been embroiled in legal tiffs over a
number of years. But the back-to-back losses will have a serious
effect on Rambus' revenues in the coming quarters.
Despite the legal blows, we find the company's growth story
encouraging given the number of new customer wins and growing
exposure to lighting and display technologies. The company
recently announced the introduction of a portfolio of LED (Light
Emitting Diode) bulbs. The company asserts that the bulbs are
economical (due to lower cost of ownership), energy efficient and
long lasting.
Currently, Rambus and Micron both have a Zacks Rank #3
(Hold).
MICRON TECH (MU): Free Stock Analysis Report
RAMBUS INC (RMBS): Free Stock Analysis Report
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