Virginia Court Upholds Infineon's Fraud and Punitive Damages Verdict and Awards Infineon $7.1 Million In Legal Expenses.Business Editors/High-Tech & Legal Writers RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 10, 2001 Infineon Technologies (FSE/NYSE:IFX IFX - ["Type Reconstruction with First-Class Polymorphic Values", J. O'Toole et al, SIGPLAN Notices 24(7):207-217 (Jul 1989)]. ) today announced that Federal District Judge Robert E. Payne denied Rambus' motion to set aside a jury verdict holding Rambus liable for fraud in connection with the SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) A type of dynamic RAM (DRAM) memory chip that has been widely used since the late 1990s. SDRAM chips eliminated wait states by dividing the chip into two cell blocks and interleaving data between them. standardization process. The jury verdict was delivered on May 9, 2001 following a two-week trial in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Infineon filed counter-claims in that action alleging that Rambus subverted the SDRAM standardization process of the Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council See JEDEC. (JEDEC The division of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) that deals with semiconductor standards (officially, the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association of EIA). JEDEC was formed in 1958 when the Joint Electron Tube Engineering Council (JETEC) split into two Joint Electron Device ) by failing to disclose patents and patent applications relevant to that JEDEC standard. The Court found that in committing its fraud "Rambus acted deliberately (pursuant to its Business Plan) and with callous disregard of its disclosure obligations and the rights of Infineon and other JEDEC members." The Court also noted that the "fraud affected not just Infineon, but reached an entire segment of the semiconductor industry and many of its products." The Court's decision to uphold the jury's verdict confirms the importance of intellectual property disclosure during the industry-wide, open standard-setting process. As a remedy for Rambus' fraud, the Court issued an anti-suit injunction against Rambus. The injunction bars Rambus from asserting, against Infineon's synchronous DRAMs that comply with JEDEC's SDRAM standard, any current or future U.S. patent directed to the technologies targeted by Rambus' fraud. Although the Court also set aside part of the jury's fraud verdict that relates to DDR SDRAM, this decision does not affect Infineon's ability to sell those products. Judge Payne previously dismissed all of Rambus' patent infringement patent infringement n. the manufacture and/or use of an invention or improvement for which someone else owns a patent issued by the government, without obtaining permission of the owner of the patent by contract, license or waiver. claims related to both Infineon's SDRAM and DDR SDRAM products. Judge Payne also awarded Infineon over $7.1 million in attorneys' fees and expenses incurred in successfully defending against Rambus' patent infringement claims and prosecuting Infineon's fraud counter-claim. The Court based the award on a finding that Rambus' patent infringement suit was "baseless, unjustified and frivolous," the seriousness of Rambus' fraud perpetrated against Infineon and other members of JEDEC, and Rambus' conduct during the litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. which included misleading testimony by Rambus' executives and destruction of documents. About Infineon Technologies Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for applications in the wired and wireless communications markets, for security systems and smartcards, for the automotive and industrial sectors, as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the U.S. from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In the fiscal year 2000 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 7.28 billion with about 29,000 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Frankfurt Stock Exchange The largest of Germany's eight securities exchanges, operated by Deutsche Borse AS. and on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. (ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors : IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com. |
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