Rambus Asks for Ban on U.S. Sales of Hynix Chips

The legal issues between Rambus and the DRAM manufacturers continues to move through the US court systems. Rambus won a patent infringement lawsuit three months ago against Hynix for the sale of Jedec-standard DRAM.  While Hynix is the first DRAM manufacturer to be addressed, Rambus is also pursuing patent infringement claims against most of the remaining DRAM manufacturers. Yesterday Rambus requested a court-mandated license from Hynix for past shipments of Jedec-standard DRAM sold from 2001 to 2007 and permanent injunction to stop Hynix from shipping DRAM into the US during the appeal process of the patent-infringement verdict.

Even if the courts decide to deny or delay this injunction requested by Rambus, the possibility of other disruptions to the US supply of Jedec-standard DRAM still looms on the horizon as other DRAM manufacturers take their turn in the box. 

And the alternative?  One investment company estimates that the cost to Hynix will be as much as $550 million.  Presumably most of the remaining DRAM manufacturers would also owe a similar ratio of penalties relative to their volume shipments. 

Semico’s recent report “The Introduction of DDR3 and the Rambus Tipping Point” anticipated that the issues between Rambus and the DRAM manufacturers would ultimately lead to this kind of show-down.  Semico believes that OEMs will inevitably see higher DRAM costs in the future as a result of the current litigation path that is being followed.  Other short-term impacts are also identified in the report.