Federal Judge Robert Payne isn't expected to decide until next month whether Rambus Inc.'s synchronous DRAM patents are unenforceable.
After the jury in the patent infringement case against Infineon Technologies AG found Rambus had committed fraud, the German chip maker filed a motion to nullify the Rambus patents.
The two sides are setting up a schedule for filing briefs and a possible court hearing on the patent unenforceability motion.
Court sources believe that process may take several weeks, and Judge Payne won't issue his ruling on the motion until early June.
The patent enforcement question only affects Infineon in the present case, but would certainly be cited as precedent by Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor which are in litigation with Rambus over the same synchronous patents.
Rambus and Infineon attorneys also agreed that Virginia state law limits the jury award of punitive damages against Rambus to $350,000. The jury originally had assessed $3.5 million in punitive damages against Rambus.
Infineon is already absolved of any infringement of the Rambus synchronous patents because Judge Payne ruled the German firm's SDRAMs didn't have a multiplex memory bus line he said was required under the Rambus patents.
Micron has already cited that decision as a precedent in its own patent suit against Rambus in the Wilmington, Del., federal court.
Rambus has said it will appeal Judge Payne's dimissal of its patent infringement claims against Infineon, as well as the jury's verdict of fraud for the firm's failure to disclose its patent applications while a member of the industry JEDEC committee drafting an open SDRAM standard.
RSS
Digital
HDD roadmap:
The hard disk drive (HDD) industry finds its lifeblood in a technology roadmap. The areal density roadmap describes the number of magnetic bits per unit area on the disk platter--thereby defining the storage capacity.
10 CEOs out in 2009:
It's been a tough year for the global electronics industry and CEOs. We survey the dismissal of 10 industry CEOs during the first three quarters of 2009 and what's ahead for the rest of the year.
Top 10 IC vendors with cash:
The world's biggest IC companies by revenue rank not only among the best in their respective industry segments but are also more likely to have huge piles of cash that can be used to fund acquisitions, R&D and product development
10 companies in trouble (revisited):
What follows is an updated version of 10 companies in trouble. Some companies have been removed since the last version, others remain. Still others have been added to the mix.
MIPS to go after the cellphone?:
ARM dominates the global cell phone market, and many industry observers scoff at MIPS as a viable player in mobile phone designs. But MIPS disclosed that over the next one or two years' time, there will be MIPS-based handsets shipped.
Hot technologies to watch for in 2009:
Every technologist, marketer, industry analyst and reporter on a hunt for the next big thing is bracing for the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show scheduled less than a month away.
Notable women in microelectronics
EE Times has compiled an international list that celebrates women who are business and technology leaders in microelectronics.
EE Times updates Silicon 60
Seventeen companies have been added to the lastest version of our Silicon 60 list of emerging startups. Forty-three companies survived as emerging companies that are still worth watching.
RSS| 
Digital| 
Mobile
