Rambus Sues Hitachi for Patent Infringement

IP News

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.----Jan. 18, 2000--Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS) today filed suit in the Federal District Court in Delaware against Hitachi Ltd. for willful patent infringement.

Rambus is seeking injunctions against the manufacture, use and sale of certain Hitachi memory and microprocessor products that infringe Rambus patents. Rambus is also seeking punitive damages from Hitachi.

Rambus seeks to halt the importation, sale, manufacture and use of certain Hitachi semiconductor products including PC100 SDRAM, PC133 SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, SGRAM, and DIMM modules as well as SH-2, SH-3, SH-4 and SH-5 microprocessor products which directly or contributorily infringe four Rambus patents. The patents in the suit, U.S. Patent Nos. 5,915,105; 5,953,263; 5,954,804 and 5,995,443, stem from Rambus' original 1990 disclosure and cover fundamental technology relating to synchronous memory devices and methods of controlling such devices.

Rambus is a pioneering technology company that has invested hundreds of engineer-years and over $100 million in the development of high-bandwidth chip-connection technologies. To date, these efforts have resulted in more than 80 U.S. and foreign patents issued to Rambus.

Under a licensing agreement, Rambus has transferred technology to Hitachi for the sole purpose of enabling Hitachi to manufacture and sell memory and logic products which are compatible with RDRAM® specifications issued by Rambus. ``However, to date Hitachi has not produced or marketed any such RDRAM-compatible products,'' according to Geoff Tate, CEO of Rambus Inc. The suit filed today does not relate to such compatible memory and logic products. The suit was filed after Hitachi failed to respond to repeated requests by Rambus to conduct further discussions regarding the detailed infringement analysis of Hitachi's non-RDRAM-compatible products which was presented to Hitachi by Rambus in 1999.

Rambus is willing to license its technology to any company for development and use of non-RDRAM-compatible semiconductors. Rambus invented fundamental aspects of high-speed memory interfaces which are currently being implemented in SDRAM and DDR SDRAM and anticipates that semiconductor companies will want to license its technology for use in non-RDRAM-compatible products.

Rambus Inc. is an intellectual property company that designs, develops and licenses high-bandwidth chip-connection technologies which enables semiconductor memory devices to keep pace with faster generations of processors and controllers. Rambus has licensed its technology to over 30 semiconductor companies for the development, manufacture and sale of Rambus-compatible ICs. Providers of Rambus-based integrated circuits include the world's leading DRAM, ASIC, controller and microprocessor manufacturers.

This release contains forward-looking statements with respect to anticipated results. Actual results could differ materially. Among the factors which could cause results to differ materially is that demand for licenses could be lower or that the courts might disagree with Rambus' patent position.

Note to Editors: Rambus is a registered trademark of Rambus Inc.