Related News
Provisional deal to drop Rambus probe
By Aoiffe White |
June 13, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MEMORY chip company Rambus Inc and European Union antitrust regulators said they had provisionally agreed yesterday that the EU would drop a probe and any fines if the company reduced its royalty rates for DRAM, or Dynamic Random Access Memory, chip patents.
The European Commission in 2007 charged Rambus with monopoly abuse, alleging that the company set "unreasonable" royalties for DRAM patents fraudulently set as industry standards.
Any company that wants to make DRAM has to pay Rambus for the design it developed. The chips are used in personal computers, servers, printers, personal digital assistants and cameras. Worldwide DRAM sales were US$34 billion last year.
Rambus said it would now cap the fees it charges for licenses over five years for certain memory types and memory controllers. The EU said Rambus had also promised that any future fee cuts would benefit the entire market.
The EU must check with other industry players that this satisfies antitrust concerns before the deal can be finalized.
This would end the company's antitrust disputes on both sides of the Atlantic over allegations of "patent abuse," where a firm deceives a standards body by keeping secret the fact that it holds patents on technology that all players will later be forced to license.
Rambus said last month that the United States Federal Trade Commission had dropped a similar probe.
Chip manufacturers claimed that Rambus was seeking royalties in the early 1990s even as it took part in industry-wide talks that set standards for chips - giving the company a monopoly over key technology patents.
The European Commission in 2007 charged Rambus with monopoly abuse, alleging that the company set "unreasonable" royalties for DRAM patents fraudulently set as industry standards.
Any company that wants to make DRAM has to pay Rambus for the design it developed. The chips are used in personal computers, servers, printers, personal digital assistants and cameras. Worldwide DRAM sales were US$34 billion last year.
Rambus said it would now cap the fees it charges for licenses over five years for certain memory types and memory controllers. The EU said Rambus had also promised that any future fee cuts would benefit the entire market.
The EU must check with other industry players that this satisfies antitrust concerns before the deal can be finalized.
This would end the company's antitrust disputes on both sides of the Atlantic over allegations of "patent abuse," where a firm deceives a standards body by keeping secret the fact that it holds patents on technology that all players will later be forced to license.
Rambus said last month that the United States Federal Trade Commission had dropped a similar probe.
Chip manufacturers claimed that Rambus was seeking royalties in the early 1990s even as it took part in industry-wide talks that set standards for chips - giving the company a monopoly over key technology patents.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
