Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS), one of the world´s premier technology
licensing companies specializing in high-speed memory architectures
today announced that the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has
overturned the Federal Trade Commission´s (FTC) decisions regarding
Rambus, and remanded the matter back to the FTC for further
proceedings consistent with the Court´s opinion.
In its unanimous decision released today, the appellate court
determined the FTC failed to demonstrate that Rambus inflicted any
harm on competition. In its order, the Court stated "we hold
therefore, that the Commission failed to demonstrate that Rambus´
conduct was exclusionary and thus to establish its claim that Rambus
unlawfully monopolized the relevant markets." In addition, regarding
the chance of further proceedings on remand, the Court expressed
"serious concerns about the strength of the evidence relied on to
support some of the Commission´s crucial findings."
"We are very pleased with this decision by the DC Court of
Appeals. As we have contended all along, Rambus did nothing wrong
during its participation in the JEDEC standard-setting organization
and now the Court of Appeals has confirmed our point of view. Rambus
has had to endure years of uncertainty, lost business and enormous
legal fees defending this case, and we are thrilled to have this
portion behind us," said Tom Lavelle, senior vice president and
general counsel at Rambus. "This decision, especially combined with
the jury verdict in March reaching the same conclusion, should put the
issue to rest and allow us to focus on running our business."
The FTC brought anti-trust charges against Rambus in 2002. A
three-month trial was held in the spring of 2003 before Chief
Administrative Law Judge Stephen McGuire, who issued his initial
decision exonerating Rambus with over 1,600 findings of fact in its
favor in early 2004. The FTC´s own Complaint Counsel appealed the
decision of the fact-finder to the full Commission, which reversed the
ALJ and found Rambus liable for violating Section 2 of the Sherman
Act. Today´s decision vacates the orders of the full Commission.
Rambus management will provide further details on today´s decision
during its regularly scheduled quarterly conference call set for
2:00pm PT on April 24, 2008. The decision released today is available
at http://www2.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/allopinions.asp.
About Rambus Inc.
Rambus is one of the world´s premier technology licensing
companies specializing in the invention and design of high-speed chip
architectures. Since its founding in 1990, the Company´s patented
innovations, breakthrough technologies and renowned integration
expertise have helped industry-leading chip and system companies bring
superior products to market. Rambus´ technology and products solve
customers´ most complex chip and system-level interface challenges
enabling unprecedented performance in computing, communications and
consumer electronics applications. Rambus licenses both its
world-class patent portfolio as well as its family of leadership and
industry-standard interface products. Headquartered in Los Altos
California, Rambus has regional offices in North Carolina, India
Germany, Japan and Taiwan. Additional information is available at
www.rambus.com.
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