A US District Court judge has dismissed Hynix's request to chuck out the patent infringement case brought against it by Rambus.

Judge Ronald Whyte's ruling came at the end of a two-week period in which he heard Hynix's allegations that Rambus had destroyed and/or changed documents pertaining to the case.

Judge Whyte's ruling paves the way for the case to come to trial, currently scheduled for 6 March. Rambus maintains Hynix knowingly violated its intellectual property rights by incorporating its technology in the South Korean memory-maker's DDR and DDR 2 SDRAM products.

The case comprises Hynix's original August 2000 lawsuit filed against Rambus in a bid to request a judgement rendering Rambus' patents invalid and seeking a summary judgement of non-infringement, along with Rambus' countersuit alleging patent infringement, filed in February 2001.

In January 2005, Judge Whyte ruled that Rambus had a case which Hynix must answer. Hynix's defence was to allege Rambus' hands were "unclean", having destroyed evidence that might favour the South Korean company's original claim. ®

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