MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Rambus Inc. here today announced a lawsuit against Hitachi Ltd. for infringement of patents covering technology for synchronous memory devices and methods of controlling those chips.
The company said it was seeking injunction against Hitachi from manufacturing, using, and selling certain memory and microprocessor products in the U.S. that violate Rambus patents. In addition, Rambus said it was seeking punitive damages from the Japanese chip maker.
Amoung the Hitachi products allegedly violating Rambus' patents are: PC100 SDRAMs, PC133 SDRAMs, double data rate (DDR) SDRAMs, synchronous graphics RAMs (SGRAMs), dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs), and four microprocessor product lines--the SH-2, SH-3, SH-4 and SH-5 series.
Rambus said it had licensed its technology to Hitachi for memory and logic products supporting its Direct Rambus DRAM format for high-bandwidth memory interfaces. "However, to date Hitachi has not produced or marketed any such RDRAM-compatible products," complained Geoff Tate, chief executive officer at Rambus.
The Mountain View company said it filed its suit in a U.S. District Court in Delaware today after Hitachi failed to respond to its complaints about use of its patented technology in non-RDRAM-compatible products.
An immediate response from Hitachi was not available after Rambus announced its suit.
Separately today, Rambus reported that its revenues were up 13% to $11.9 million in the company's first fiscal quarter, ended Dec. 31, compared to $10.6 million in the same period a year ago. However, Rambus' total revenues were down 3% from $12.3 million in the previous quarter, ended Sept. 30.
Rambus' net income was $2.5 million in the just-ended quarter, down from $2.7 million in the previous three-month period but up from $2.1 million in the quarter a year ago. Rambus' royalties were flat compared to the previous quarter at $2.6 million. In the same period a year ago, Rambus royalties totaled $1.7 million.
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