Rambus is claiming $1bn in damages from four big chip makers: Infineon, Hynix, Micron Technologies and Siemens AG.

The civil anti-trust case accuses the four of working together against Rambus. Rambus' general counsel said: "We believe that these memory manufacturers colluded illegally, thereby limiting consumer choice and depriving our RDRAM products of the opportunity to compete fairly in the marketplace."

The case relies partly on documents unearthed by the Federal Trade Commission during its case against Rambus. The FTC is currently appealing a decision made in February to drop the case.

Rambus licenses its chip technology to various manufacturers and has a long history of robust relations with manufacturers. Many chip makers complained Rambus royalty demands were too high. ®

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