Rambus wants its legal action against Micron to be put on ice for up to a year and a half.

The case is due to come to court on 29 October, when Rambus' allegations the Micron flouted its SDRAM patents will be judged. However, the memory technology developer this week asked the presiding judge, Roderick McKelvie, to delay the case until early-to-mid 2003.

Rambus has its eye on the Court of Appeal's ruling on its claims against judgements made by Federal Judge Robert Payne in the company's battle with Infineon, again over the alleged violation of its SDRAM and DDR patents. The Court of Appeal's statement on the matter isn't expected until late next year, at the earliest.

Essentially, Rambus wants the Court of Appeal to overturn verdicts that it committed fraud in its dealings with the chip industry's standards-setting body, JEDEC, and that Infineon did not misuse its intellectual property. If the Court of Appeal goes any way to meet Rambus' demands, that will clearly have a major impact on the Micron case.

Judge McKelvie is expected to rule on Rambus' request just a few weeks before the Micron trial is set to commence. ®