"We take allegations of spoliation very seriously and we are taking further extraordinary steps to address allegations such as those made in the Virginia case," said John Danforth, senior vice president and general counsel of Rambus. "However, even those allegations have logical limits. Ultimately, what is most important is that the FTC's Chief Administrative Law Judge was correct in his determination that -- because of the multiple legal and factual questions he found to be controlling -- nothing missing from any Rambus document production would have changed the outcome of the three month trial he held. In any event, if reopened, the FTC record ought to include other new evidence as well, including recent DRAM industry guilty pleas that go to the motives and admitted anticompetitive conduct of those DRAM companies who urged the FTC to bring this case and on whose testimony the FTC staff relied heavily at trial."
The FTC brought anti-trust charges against Rambus in June 2002 relying significantly on findings entered against Rambus from the 2001 Rambus v. Infineon trial in Virginia. Although those Virginia findings were, in substantial part, subsequently reversed on appeal, the FTC case went to trial in the summer of 2003, after which the presiding Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the FTC issued a lengthy opinion that recommended the dismissal of all FTC claims against Rambus. The ALJ ruled, among other things, that the JEDEC standard setting body had imposed no duty of disclosure. He also ruled that the DRAM industry had no reasonable alternatives to Rambus technology and was, in any event, on notice of the potential scope of Rambus patent rights. Based on these rulings and others, and because each was independently dispositive of the FTC's claims against Rambus, the ALJ further found that there was "no indication that any documents, relevant and material to the disposition of the issues in this case, were destroyed." For more information about today's ruling and for a copy when it becomes available, see www.ftc.gov, docket # 9302.
About Rambus Inc.
Rambus is one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing in the invention and design of high-speed chip interfaces. Since its founding in 1990, the company's innovations, breakthrough technologies and integration expertise have helped industry-leading chip and system companies solve their most challenging and complex I/O problems and bring their products to market. Rambus's interface solutions can be found in numerous computing, consumer, and communications products and applications. Rambus is headquartered in Los Altos, Calif., with regional offices in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Bangalore, India; Taipei, Taiwan; and Tokyo, Japan. Additional information is available at www.rambus.com.
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Contact:
Rambus Public Relations Linda Ashmore, 650-947-5411 Email Contact