Infineon countersues Rambus

Rambus has found itself 'Rambushed' by Germany's Infineon Technologies - even as the Direct DRAM company withdrew its patent infringement complaint against Hyundai, sort of.

Infineon has accused Rambus of violating its patents - the same charge Rambus earlier made against the former Siemens subsidiary. Rambus' claim against Infineon centres on the alleged use of SDRAM and DDR (Double Data Rate) memory technology it maintains it owns.

Infineon, on the other hand, is claiming Rambus' RDRAM is derived from technology the German company has patented, which Rambus is now distributing to third parties without authorisation. Infineon also says it own SDRAM and RDRAM designs that pre-date Rambus' own.

Where this will lead is anyone's guess - a cross-licensing 'technology partnership agreement', probably. That's certainly how sue/countersue patent infringement cases are resolved. If not, it will be left to the courts to decide who owns what and owes how much to who.

In addition to its complaint against Infineon, Rambus has made similar allegations against Hyundai and Micron. On Friday, Rambus said it was dropping its complaint against Hyundai, made to the US International Trade Commission, in favour of direct legal action against the Korean company. The move is designed to bring the cases together and have them handled by the same court.

Rambus said it will file a suit against Hyundai alleging "wilful patent infringement" and will "seek injunctions to halt the sale, manufacture, and use of Hyundai SDRAM and DDR SDRAM memory devices that infringe the Rambus IP".

The irony is that Rambus' decision came on the same day the ITC announced it was willing to investigate the company's claims. ®

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