FTC Forces Rambus to License DRAM Chips
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Order is meant as a remedy to effects of the company's 'unlawful monopoly.'
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Company alters traditional chip configuration to pack more memory into an even smaller unit.
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Blog: Decision could mean companies may be compelled to turn over RAM data in civil cases. TorrentSpy vows to continue legal fight.
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In the latest twist of a long, ongoing legal dispute, German chip maker Infineon TechnologiesÂ has filed a motion with a U.S. judge to dismiss a patent infringement suit brought against it by Rambus.
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Infineon Technologies AG, a German manufacturer of DRAM (dynamic RAM) has agreed to plead guilty and pay a US$160 million fine for attempting to fix prices in the DRAM market, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday.
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The Federal Trade Commission finalized its ruling that Rambus Inc. violated antitrust laws, imposing limits on the royalties the memory chip designer can charge.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has settled a complaint against a company that owns patents to a widely used Ethernet standard, saying the patent owner was attempting to collect huge license fees despite a prior commitment to the contrary.The settlement with Negotiated Data Solutions, or N-Data, will protect computer users from higher prices and ensure competition, the FTC said in a news release.N-Data, in 2003, had obtained two Ethernet patents from Vertical Networks, a spin-off of National Semiconductor. N-Data attempted to collect larger patent license fees than National Semiconductor had negotiated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a standards body, back in 1994, the FTC said.National promised the IEEE that if the group adopted a standard based on National&#39;s NWay technology, National would offer one-time licenses of US$1,0000 per company to computer manufacturers and sellers of products using the IEEE standard. But N-Data and Vertical Networks had begun collecting license fees &quot;far in excess&quot; of $1,000 per company, according to the FTC complaint.N-Data obtained the patents knowing about National&#39;s commitment, and realizing the computer industry had become committed to the standard, the FTC said. N-Data refused to comply with National&#39;s commitment, and it began demanding royalties after it became expensive and difficult for the industry to switch to another standard, the FTC said in its complaint.The settlement bars N-Data from enforcing the patents unless it has first offered the patent license based on the terms offered in 1994.In addition to higher prices, consumers would be hurt by N-Data because the company&#39;s actions would cast doubt on the reliability of standards-setting agreements, the FTC said. &quot;The cost of ignoring this particularly pernicious problem is too high,&quot; the commission majority wrote.Vertical Networks, which ceased operations after it turned the patent over to N-Data, had estimated that more than 70 percent of the world&#39;s Ethernet port shipments used the NWay Ethernet patents. In early 2002, Vertical Networks set letters to more than 60 companies demanding additional licensing fees, according to the FTC complaint.NWay technology allows two devices at opposite ends of a LAN link to exchange information and automatically configure themselves to optimize their communication, a process sometimes called autonegotiation. Standardizing on a single autonegotiation technology allowed devices made by different manufacturers to work with one another and with different generations of Ethernet equipment.N-Data, based in Chicago, didn&#39;t immediately respond to a request for comments on the FTC settlement.The FTC voted 3-2 to approve the settlement. N-Data violated federal law by engaging in unfair methods of competition, the FTC said.FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras voted against the settlement, saying the majority didn&#39;t establish an unfair method of competition. &quot;The novel use of our consumer protection authority to protect large corporate members of a standard-setting organization is insupportable,&quot; she wrote in her dissent.
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The world's largest DRAM maker agrees to pay multimillion dollar fine in a DRAM price-fixing suit.
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Chip-making technique to fuel AMD64, PowerPC, 'Cell' production
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update Infineon Technologies will plead guilty to taking part in an international DRAM price-fixing conspiracy, which affected such companies as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Apple, the US Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
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Computer, chip maker will license much of the technology behind their compact servers -- for free. NEW YORK  - International Business Machines Corp.
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(InfoWorld) - Powerchip Semiconductor, the largest DRAM maker in Taiwan, is seeking management control of flash memory maker Macronix International. The DRAM maker, which is Macronix's largest shareholder with over a 5 percent stake in the company, Monday ran half-page advertisements in Taiwan's two largest daily financial newspapers, the Economic Daily News and Commercial Times, telling shareholders to vote for its nominees in board elections next month. Powerchip is seeking eight of the 15 board seats and one of four supervisory seats at Macronix. If its nominees win, Powerchip would be able to choose the CEO, president, and other members of the management team at Macronix. Macronix has asked shareholders to reject Powerchip's nominees. In two open letters last week, the chairman of the company accused Powerchip of attempting to take over his company and said it has rejected meetings to discuss possible new board members. He also said control by Powerchip would have a negative impact on business. Powerchip has denied the allegations. The reason Powerchip is vying for management control at Macronix may be to further diversify into flash memory along with fulfilling orders for a major game console maker, Nintendo. Powerchip and other DRAM makers have been moving into new markets ever since a major slump in DRAM prices nearly put some makers out of business earlier this decade. Prices have been unkind to manufacturers this year as well. The most popular DRAM used in PCs, 512M DDR2Â chips that run at 667MHz, have declined 72 percent since the beginning of the year to $1.75 per chip, according to DRAMeXchange Technology, a clearinghouse for the chips. The price is below manufacturing costs, causing most DRAM makers to lose money on the chips they sell at such a low price. Macronix supplies Mask ROMÂ chips for Nintendo's popular Wii game console, a hit product that has boosted component suppliers along with Nintendo. Flash memory is Macronix's other main product and makes up more than 40 percent of its output.
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November 10, 2004 ã¡ In the latest in a series of attempts by Japanese companies to defend their technological territory, electronics giant Toshiba sued Hynix Semiconductor yesterday for alleged violations of flash memory chip patents, which are key
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Trade Me has purchased a RAM SAN array from Texas Memory Systems, a storage system for serving thousands of pictures of items for sale on its site. Right now, the site uses traditional disk storage for the task, but it is encountering I/O bottlenecks.
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Blog: CompactFlash Association looks to memory card boost transfer rates and capacity standard with the faster Serial ATA interface.
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Japan will block imports of some memory chips produced by Taiwan&#39;s Nanya Technology after local chip-maker Fujitsu lodged a request with the country&#39;s customs authorities.In August last year Fujitsu won a patent infringement case against Nanya at the Tokyo District Court. The lawsuit concerned a patent related to a technology for improving the speed of DDR SDRAM (double data rate synchronous dynamic RAM) memory chips, and the court case came about after discussions between the companies broke down.A day after winning the case,&#160;Fujitsu filed with Japan Customs to block import of the DRAM chips&#160;in question. DRAM is used as the main memory inside personal computers and some consumer electronics products.With Fujitsu&#39;s request to suspend imports granted, the government will begin inspections of Nanya DRAM chips coming into Japan, Fujitsu said Thursday. If the chips are judged to include the technology that was the subject of the August court case, the chips will be blocked from entry, Fujitsu said.Nanya Technology could not immediately be reached for comment.&#160;
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The 1Gb DRAM (dynamic RAM) chip has replaced 512Gb DRAM as the mainstream memory capacity in the PC industry as of October, according to DRAMeXchange, a sign most PCs coming off production lines can now use Microsoft&#39;s Vista OS.All of the premium versions of Vista require&#160;more DRAM per PC&#160;to ensure smooth operation of the OS, which is more complex and requires more hardware than its predecessor, XP.The changeover in the DRAM market has taken longer than many companies expected. Several DRAM makers&#160;built new factories in anticipation&#160;Vista would take the PC market by storm this year and antiquate XP. That hasn&#39;t happened. Instead, the adoption of the new OS is moving along at a steady pace, albeit&#160;slower than the DRAM industry expected.The heavy investment in DRAM factories, however, has caused a massive oversupply.&#160;Prices of most DRAM chips have fallen&#160;by over 70 percent so far this year, and are currently near or below the cost of production for most companies.The contract price of 1Gb, DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) DRAM chips that run at 667MHz fell 12.5 percent from two weeks ago to $2.63 each, a new low for this year according to DRAMeXchange, which runs an online trading site for the chips. The most recent DRAM slump hit in early October, as prices fell by 25 percent. Analysts said the market may not turn around until late next year, and possibly later if companies keep building new production lines.&quot;We do not expect memory chip makers to show any improvement in profitability at least until [the second half of 2008] unless there is stabilization or a recovery in pricing,&quot; said Warren Lau, chip industry analyst at Macquarie Research.Samsung Electronics already increased its production line spending plans 23 percent this year, he said, and the aggressive stance will likely cause rivals such as Elpida Memory and Hynix Semiconductor&#160;to follow suit so they can protect or increase their DRAM market share.Increased spending amid a chip glut should keep DRAM cheap for a while. Market prices normally take about a month to filter down to users, according to one DRAMeXchange analyst, and users can benefit from lower prices in a few ways. PC vendors often increase the amount of DRAM per computer when prices are low, or offer additional DRAM as an incentive to buy a new PC. Also, the price of DRAM modules found in stores will fall as retailers clear out their older, more expensive inventory.Contract DRAM prices are renegotiated every two weeks between DRAM makers and PC vendors such as Hewlett-Packard&#160;and Dell. Around 80 percent of all DRAM is sold by contract, while the rest is sold on a spot market similar to commodities trading in oil and gold.&#160;