Anti-Trust Suit Against Rambus Dismissed

by Anton Shilov
02/18/2004 | 12:16 PM

Rambus announced that the suit brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the company has been dismissed in its entirety in a ruling issued by Judge Stephen J. McGuire, the FTC's chief administrative law judge presiding over the case.

Chief Administrative Law Judge Stephen J. McGuire today issued his initial decision and order in the matter of Rambus. The order states “Accordingly, Complaint Counsel having failed to sustain its burden of establishing liability for the violations alleged, the Complaint is Dismissed.”

A 330-page initial decision explaining the ruling is expected to be issued to the public on Monday, February 23, 2004. The Judge’s initial decision is subject to review by the full Commission, either on its own motion or at the request of either party.

In June, 2002 the Federal Trade Commission charged Rambus, based in Los Altos, California, with violating federal antitrust laws by engaging in a pattern of anticompetitive acts related to industry-wide standard-setting. The FTC sought an administrative trial to litigate the charges.

Rambus claims it owns patents on key-technologies used in modern dynamic random access memory that is deployed in every single computer sold. The company is seriously trying to force all makers of DRAM to pay royalties to Rambus for every single RAM chip sold. However, some memory makers and the Federal Trade Commission act against Rambus.

The dismissed anti-trust suit is just one case against Rambus initiated by the FTC. In May 2003 the commission alleged Rambus of illegal monopolisation of key-technologies used in now-common SDRAM memory.