Jury Has No Problem With Rambus Patent Tricks; But Let's Wait For The Appeal

from the ain't-over-yet dept

Rambus really is a fascinating company. Almost no one denies that it pulled some sneaky tricks in making sure that they had patents that covered a DRAM standard -- but the question was whether or not those tricks were actually illegal. The EU and the FTC both decided that Rambus' actions were illegal, but the company just kept hiring lawyers and has now convinced a jury it did nothing wrong. This isn't a surprise as juries almost always side with patent holders, in part due to the great American myth that a patent is a wonderful thing not to be questioned. But, Rambus is extremely premature in announcing: "This ruling should put to rest a series of ongoing allegations Rambus has endured for many years." Hardly. There will be appeals that are going to drag this out even longer. In the meantime, we fully expect angry Rambus investors to complain about this post again as they've done in the past. After that post, someone sent me an angry email saying that I had been reported to both Rambus and the feds for slander. I'm still waiting for the lawsuit.
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Filed Under: appeals, dram, patents, standards bodies
Companies: rambus


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  • identicon
    mike allen, 27 Mar 2008 @ 2:29am

    as said before

    someone said in a previous post get a gun and shoot a lawyer today seems to apply here too.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      via tor, 27 Mar 2008 @ 6:44am

      Re: as said before

      someone said in a previous post get a gun and shoot a lawyer today seems to apply here too.

      mike,

      Why did you post this comment? I mean, what effect are you hoping for?

      If all you want is sympathy, then you can have some: I agree that the legal profession has lost all ethics and decency, and it needs outside reform now.

      Alternatively, if you're trying to incite someone to shoot a lawyer today, then I don't think it's going to work.

      So, tell me mike, what exactly are you trying to achieve with that comment. What is the reaction that you want from readers?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 27 Mar 2008 @ 8:31am

        Re: Re: as said before

        I think someone should shoot this guy too. He sounds like a lawyer trying not to sound like one, so he'll probably be taken care of anyway ;)

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          angry dude, 27 Mar 2008 @ 8:46am

          Re: Re: Re: as said before

          Poidi prospis' urod
          Tvoe mesto vozle parashi
          Der'mo, merde, shit

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            dorpass, 27 Mar 2008 @ 8:56am

            Re: Re: Re: Re: as said before

            Poidi prospis' urod
            Tvoe mesto vozle parashi
            Der'mo, merde, shit


            That's unfortunate that a Russian can be that devoid of reason and can only throw cuss words out to support his non existent point.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • identicon
              angry dude, 27 Mar 2008 @ 9:29am

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: as said before

              That's just to reflect the level of "discussion" on this shitty blog filled with lies and corporate propaganda

              Lunch time, techdirt lemmings !

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                ehrichweiss, 27 Mar 2008 @ 9:37am

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: as said before

                And yet, YOU still come here.

                You seem to think this blog is the equivalent of visiting 2girls1cup except, and I love this part, YOU KEEP COMING BACK TO READ IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN. Talk about lemmings all you want, that's the true definition of insane.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                DanC, 27 Mar 2008 @ 10:14am

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: as said before

                filled with lies and corporate propaganda

                Says angrydude, who has continually spread both lies and propaganda.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

              • identicon
                dorpass, 27 Mar 2008 @ 10:29am

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: as said before

                That's just to reflect the level of "discussion" on this shitty blog filled with lies and corporate propaganda

                Well, it only reflects on your mental capacity and has nothing to do with the discussion, seeing how you just ramble off on your own.
                Come to think of it, you are probably hampered by the education you got in Vinnytsia.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

                • identicon
                  angry dude, 27 Mar 2008 @ 1:13pm

                  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: as said before

                  hey smartass

                  where did you get your education ?

                  Community college for retarded victims of incest in rural mid-west ?
                  gee, this place is worse than slashbot
                  I have a spitting reflex every time I read the shitty techdirt articles and following comments
                  gotta clean my monitor again...

                  link to this | view in chronology ]

                  • identicon
                    dorpass, 27 Mar 2008 @ 4:11pm

                    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: as said before

                    where did you get your education

                    Considering your reaction, Vinnytsia was a good guess. And a "spitting reflex" has got to be a reaction worthy of a retard. Explains why you are so familiar with where they go to as well.

                    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lucretious, 27 Mar 2008 @ 2:41am

    Mike you black-hearted bastard..... ;)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Kevin, 27 Mar 2008 @ 3:12am

    Rambus investors?

    Well, just keep in mind that SCO had tons of investors who thought very highly of their nonsensical business strategy too, until the courts pointed out how full of crap they were. Of course, the rest of the technology world already knew that.

    I think that the problem is that there are two "worlds" colliding here. You have technical people who actually understand the issues and can see how obviously wrong both SCO and Rambus are. Then you have the non-technical world where the courts are, where a little fast talking razzle dazzle can get you whatever sort of legal judgement you want.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Ben Smith, 27 Mar 2008 @ 4:55am

    Slander?

    It's only slander if it isn't true...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 27 Mar 2008 @ 11:12am

      Re: Slander?

      Its not slander if it was written that would make it liable its only slander if spoken.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Mar 2008 @ 5:04am

    If one does a little research on the FTC they will find how dirty their hands were.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Ben, 27 Mar 2008 @ 6:07am

    You can't slander someone in a writing

    Putting aside the fact that the "feds" are unlikely to be interested in an accusation of slander, there is still the fact that you can only slander someone by saying something defamatory. If you write/publish something defamatory then it is libel not slander.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous of Course, 27 Mar 2008 @ 6:23am

    Does anyone know...

    Have the standards comities altered their policies
    to reduce the chances of Rambus style scummy tricks
    in the future?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    angry dude, 27 Mar 2008 @ 6:44am

    A little reminder

    Just to remind you, techdirt lemmings, that Rambus patents were originally issued to Rambus founders Dr. Mark Horowitz and Dr. Mike Farmwald for their original groundbreaking inventions.

    For more reading:
    rambus.org
    rambus.com

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 27 Mar 2008 @ 6:52am

      Re: A little reminder

      Ans another highly contributory posting by everyones favorite shill/troll, AD.

      rambus - Just when I thought they were dead and gone.
      I suppose zombified remains of SCO will linger on forever also. I never did understand why they wanted other peoples brains. I guess it is because they do not have one.

      Oh yeah, one more thing ... jury of their peers.
      I doubt it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        angry dude, 27 Mar 2008 @ 7:06am

        Re: Re: A little reminder

        Hey, punk

        Did they do a lobotomy on you, poor little creature ?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          ehrichweiss, 27 Mar 2008 @ 9:34am

          Re: Re: Re: A little reminder

          An attack on the person rather than their arguement. Good show of your lack of communication skills there, angry dudette.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      DanC, 27 Mar 2008 @ 7:28am

      Re: A little reminder

      And during the JEDEC meetings, there were multiple efforts made to compile a list of relevant patents that may have an impact on the standards produced.

      The Rambus representative at JEDEC, Richard Crisp, responded with this:

      Regarding patents, I have stated to several persons that my personal opinion is that the Ramlink/Synclink proposals will have a number of problems with Rambus intellectual property.
      ...
      At this time, Rambus elects to not make a specific comment on our intellectual property position relative to the Synclink proposal. Our presence or silence at committee meetings does not constitute an endorsement of any proposal under the committee's consideration nor does it make any statement regarding potential infringement of Rambus intellectual property.


      So, Rambus made a vague assertion of probable IP infringement, but refused to give any specifics. Not exactly helpful when the committee is trying to develop a standard for the industry.

      They then attended one more JEDEC meeting, and then dropped out when they realized that they could be held accountable for trying to enforce non-disclosed patents as a member of a standards board.

      There's further evidence that they were going to game the standards process. Their business plan 1992 - 1997 (while they were members of the JEDEC), written by their CEO Geoff Tate, included this gem:

      [W]e believe that Sync DRAMs infringe on some claims in our filed patents; and that there are additional claims we can file for our patents that cover features of Sync DRAMs. Then we will be in position to request patent licensing (fees and royalties) from any manufacturer of Sync DRAMs.

      They participated in the standards process, became stubborn and uncooperative when it was evident that open standards (and not Rambus' own proprietary RDRAM) were going to be implemented, held up the standards process with vague IP claims (and refused to discuss specifics), actively filed additional patent claims on proposed standards, dropped out of the standards board, and then sued the manufacturers of SDRAM.

      Hopefully this decision gets overturned on appeal, and the FTC and EC hold their ground.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        angry dude, 27 Mar 2008 @ 7:39am

        Re: Re: A little reminder

        Another abortion victim ?

        What is your f****** problem, dude ?

        Why are you not trusting the jury decision ?
        The jury people were informed much better than any of us about all of the shitty details and reached their decision.
        Live with that, punk

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          DanC, 27 Mar 2008 @ 7:50am

          Re: Re: Re: A little reminder

          Rambus was found guilty of fraud by a jury back in 2001, and their patent claims against Infineon were thrown out. I'm sure you fully agreed with that decision, so your support of Rambus here is confusing.

          I find there's little point in arguing with you...Rambus is yet another of your beloved "little guys" and is thus, in your eyes, incapable of doing anything wrong.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous of Course, 27 Mar 2008 @ 7:38am

      Re: A little reminder

      A shovel full of coals for your head,
      Angry Dude.

      Technically, Rambus had a good thing.
      Their patents are sound. It's the way
      they handled their business that sucks.
      Entering into industry wide standards
      development in bad faith.

      It wasn't as case of poor beleaguered
      patent holders beset by greedy corporations.
      It's greedy, duplicitous patent holders,
      or their business associates, getting their
      just rewards.

      A groundbreaking invention killed off
      by greedy weasles.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        angry dude, 27 Mar 2008 @ 7:44am

        Re: Re: A little reminder

        WTF are you, a Micron executive ?

        Rambus patents are alive and well
        and you're getting your lobotomy tomorrow. Doctor's order!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      greg, 22 Jan 2010 @ 6:09pm

      Re: A little reminder

      I love how you use Rambus as a source to your attempt at playing defense for Rambus - nice work....real convincing

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Joe Smith, 27 Mar 2008 @ 9:35am

    Libel defence

    I think that if Mike is sued for libel, he should call Angry Dude as a witness to testify that no right thinking person would believe Mike's posts and so there can be no libel ;-)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Mar 2008 @ 6:00pm

    I wonder why AD does not like Slashdot.
    Could it be that they ripped him a new one ?
    Maybe it is the moderation system AD is not fond of.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ronald J Riley (profile), 28 Mar 2008 @ 3:03am

    Rambus-techDIRT head where the daylight does not s

    I believe that it is Micron and a group of like minded patent pirating companies operating as the Coalition for Patent Fairness, aka the “Piracy Coalition” who are bad players. Rambus and the people who invested in the company are victims of these unethical companies.

    Piracy Coalition members either produce no inventions or small incremental inventions. Some Piracy Coalition members started as true innovators but have lost the ability while others have been parasites on inventors from their inception.

    I routinely deal with inventors who produce significant inventions. I want to make it very clear that Rambus produced important brilliant breakthrough inventions and that they were immediately attacked by vested interests who had inferior technology. It is my opinion that Micron has been a parasite from its inception and that Micron’s conduct is unacceptable in civilized society.

    Rather a company is past its prime and unable to produce significant inventions or as I believe is the case with Micron was never able to produce significant inventions they inevitably resort to filing massive numbers of insignificant incremental improvements in an attempt to compensate for their inability to produce. They are about quantity over quality.

    What they are good at is questionable political activity and creative (with the facts) public relations campaigns. This is in my opinion the case with all the members of the Piracy Coalition.

    They leave no political trick left unturned, including lobbying the FTC, the FDA, the USPTO, etc. to carry their water.

    These issues are important to every citizen of the US. The reason is that in the absence of intellectual property products and service tend to become commodity items with razor thin profit margins. Such businesses cannot afford to pay well.

    Conversely, with intellectual property margins are much higher and the businesses based on patent property rights can pay living wages.

    If the Piracy Coalition has their way with patent deform it will be the end of America being a land of opportunity.

    Ronald J. Riley,


    Speaking only on my own behalf.
    Affiliations:
    President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
    Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
    Senior Fellow - www.patentPolicy.org
    President - Alliance for American Innovation
    Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
    Washington, DC
    Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      DanC, 28 Mar 2008 @ 6:27am

      Re: Rambus-techDIRT head where the daylight does n

      That's a nice bit of propaganda. Do you have any actual research or facts to back up your opinion, or is it just baseless speculation?

      Rambus produced important brilliant breakthrough inventions and that they were immediately attacked by vested interests who had inferior technology.

      Actually, Rambus went on the attack after dropping out of the JEDEC, and proceeded to file lawsuits against its members. Of course, while a member, Rambus refused to provide any details concerning what IP rights of theirs might be infringed by the proposed standards that Rambus was participating in creating.

      They simply acted in bad faith while a member of the JEDEC. When a court ruled that Dell could not enforce patent rights it had failed to disclose to a standards board it belonged to, Rambus quickly dropped out of the JEDEC. Please stop pretending that Rambus has some sort of higher moral ground here. As their business plan from 1992-1997 showed, they had every intention of gaming the standards process.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Willton, 28 Mar 2008 @ 12:51pm

      Re: Rambus-techDIRT head where the daylight does n

      I'm all for strong patent laws, but I think Mr. Riley might want to take off the tin-foil hat.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    John Doe, 29 Mar 2008 @ 11:09pm

    RAMBUS IS SO GOING TO LOOSE IN APPEAL

    Dude, what are they thinking, just cause a jury said yes, a judge will be stupid enough to make that same mistake.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Gordon, 21 Mar 2009 @ 8:55pm

    Rambus

    You can't be charged with slander for being totally misinformed. Time will tell though which side is right. As for me it's a great lesson in how politics and the justice system go hand in hand sometimes. Also how long shit can be tied up in the justice system. Like the Exxon fiasco...18 years for justice...what a joke.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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