Rambus yesterday confirmed that it was the subject of an Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation. Shares fell 5 per cent on the news in after-hours trading.

Rambus says it is co-operating with the FTC, but then have you ever heard of a company which says it is not co-operating with the FTC, or the SEC?

It's been awfully quiet on the legal front for Rambus recently, so it's back to the good old/bad old days for the memory chip designer.

DRAM makers are unhappy with Rambus's royalty rates, which they consider are far too high. Of course, Rambus has a monopoly over RDRAM design, which means the DRAM companies have to pay to play with this memory technology. ®

http://www.rambus.com/