Hynix to pay $400 million plus royalties to settle suit, says Rambus

LONDON — Memory technology licensor Rambus Inc. has said that it has agreed in principle to terms for a compulsory license with Hynix Semiconductor for SDR SDRAM and DDR SDRAM memory products and that Hynix will pay $349 million in damages plus interest of approximately $48 million as a final settlement in a legal case filed by Hynix in 2000.

The parties have agreed to royalty rates of 1 percent for SDR SDRAM and 4.25 percent for DDR SDRAM memory devices for net sales after January 31, 2009 and before April 18, 2010. The latter rate applies to DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, GDDR2 and GDDR3 SDRAM devices, as well as DDR SGRAM devices, Rambus said.

"While the court still needs to resolve some outstanding issues, we are pleased to have reached agreement with Hynix on a number of terms," said Thomas Lavelle, senior vice president and general counsel at Rambus, in a statement.

The case was originally filed by Hynix against Rambus in August 2000. Judge Whyte of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California split the case into three separate phases. Judge Whyte found Rambus did not spoliate evidence as Hynix had alleged, and a jury found Rambus patents valid and infringed by Hynix. Judge Whyte and a separate jury also found Rambus acted properly while a member of the standard-setting organization JEDEC during its participation in the early 1990s, Rambus said.

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