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News Burst: Rambus sues Infineon over memory

Matthew Broersma ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 14 Aug 2000 10:27 BST

Rambus, which owns the intellectual property behind several key PC components, has sued Munich-based Infineon over the rights to a widespread memory technology.

The action, filed in the US district court in Richmond, Virginia, is part of Rambus' ongoing campaign to reach licensing agreements with memory manufacturers.

The lawsuit, filed last week, covers patents for synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a standard component in most PCs, according to industry newsletter Electronic Buyers' News. Rambus has already forced royalty and licensing agreements with Oki Electric, Toshiba and Hitachi for double data rate (DDR) memories and SDRAMs.

Rambus is also marketing its Direct Rambus memory technology for fast PCs, and the memory has been endorsed by chip maker Intel. Rambus' rights to SDRAM, DDR memories and controllers have been disputed but have not yet met with a successful court challenge. Infineon is considering its own suit against Rambus to protect its memory patent rights, according to Electronic Buyers' News.

More details to follow.

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