The decision comes shortly after a jury in a Virginia court found that Infineon Technologies AG was not violating Rambus' patented technology — which may play a key role in other lawsuits Rambus is pursuing.

Rambus has claimed its patents for high-speed Rambus DRAM also apply to key elements of SDRAM designs and has filed patent infringement suits in several countries against Micron and Infineon, as well as Hynix Semiconductor Co. (formerly Hyundai Electronics Industries Co.), seeking royalty payments. Further complicating the matter, all three companies have filed countersuits in multiple jurisdictions. Several other DRAM vendors have signed royalty agreements with Rambus, including memory giant Samsung Semiconductor Inc.

In Italy, a judge denied Rambus' request to bar Micron from producing memory chips that Rambus claimed were based on its patented elements. Instead, that case will proceed to trial later this year, although Rambus has the right to appeal the decision.

Micron and Rambus are also locked in litigation in a Delaware court. That case was originally scheduled for trial in October, but the judge has decided to take a closer look at rulings coming from the Virginia case against Infineon.

Patent claims dismissed

In Virginia, Judge Robert Payne, of the U.S. District Court in Richmond, threw out all of Rambus' claims of patent violation by Infineon in a narrow ruling that did not address whether Rambus had the right to broadly apply its RDRAM patents to SDRAM architectures. He has now decided to take a second look at the issue, and if he makes a decision on that point it could become the basis for all of Rambus' patent infringement suits in this country, according to Kipp Bedard, director of investor relations for Micron (Boise, Idaho).

The jury in that case also found that Rambus had acted fraudulently in its relations with the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (Jedec), the memory industry standards body, by patenting ideas that came up during meetings that are designed to be an open forum for DRAM vendors. Jedec rules bar participants from patenting material that arises in Jedec discussions. The decision may also be key to other ongoing lawsuits, Bedard said.

At this point, rather than prepare for a trial in the Delaware case, the judge has decided to wait and see how Payne rules regarding the Rambus patents when applied to SDRAM. "We are pleased he is willing to look at that decision," said Bedard. "[Payne] could rule that Rambus defrauded the entire industry, and [the Delaware judge] could apply that decision to our case."