Hitachi kan rekenen op de steun van zijn SDRAM makkers in de rechtszaak die het 2 week geleden door Rambus Inc. aan het broekje gelapt kreeg. Rambus verdenkt Hitachi van het schenden van enkele patenten die betrekking hebben op alle SDRAM produkten van Hitachi, waaronder ook de SH-4 processor die in de Dreamcast wordt gebruikt. Dit klinkt nogal onzinnig en volgens de DRAM fabrikanten is dat ook zo: SDRAM maakt volgens hen gebruik van technologie die al bestond lang voordat Rambus zijn patenten vastlegde:
Following a patent-infringement suit filed earlier this month against Hitachi Ltd. by IP-house Rambus Inc., several memory-chip makers have begun to rally behind the scenes in support of their fellow vendor.[...] Casting a pall over a broad cross section of the semiconductor marketplace, Rambus' suit, filed earlier this month in Delaware, charges Hitachi with misappropriating patents intended for the design of Direct Rambus DRAM chips by applying the technology to a variety of SDRAM interfaces. Citing Hitachi's refusal to negotiate a separate license, Rambus is seeking punitive damages and an injunction against virtually all of Hitachi's DRAM products as well as its SDRAM-enabled SH microprocessors.
But it's Rambus' claim that the entire DRAM industry is subject to the same restrictions that has stood the market on its ear. Sherry Garber, an analyst at Phoenix-based Semico Research Corp., said major DRAM companies have quietly offered their help to Hitachi-specifically by sharing data that purportedly proves the synchronous technology was developed long before Rambus filed its patent claims in 1990.
“All the memory firms see the Rambus suit against Hitachi as a threat to them,” Garber said. “They want to stop the Rambus patent action before it goes any further.”
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