Appeals Court Finds for Rambus Against Infineon in Patent Case

On January 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a decision of a District Court that Infineon (a group of related companies) did not infringe four of Rambus Inc.'s patents. The Court revised the claim construction performed by the District court judge and remanded the case for further consideration under the revised construction. What is interesting about this patent case is the counter-claim of fraud levelled by Infineon against Rambus. Rambus was a participant in the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC), an organization that has formulated standards for a form of computer memory known as SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) and Double Data Rate SDRAM. Rambus did not disclose its ownership of pending patent applications that, when granted, might contain claims that would be infringed by hardware that conformed to the standards being developed. A trial jury of the District Court found fraud on the facts in relation to the SDRAM technology and the District Court allowed the jury verdict of fraud to stand. The Federal Circuit Court reversed the District Court's decision, ruling that no fraud had taken place under the applicable law. The majority found that there was "a staggering lack of defining details" in the JEDEC patent policy and the evidence did not support the conclusion that Rambus breached its duty of disclosure under the JEDEC policy. As a result, not all elements of fraud under Virginia law were established. The minority judge of the Appeals Court took issue with the majority's scope of the duty of disclosure under the JEDEC policy and concluded that there was sufficient evidence for the jury's finding of fraud. Rambus continues to face additional proceedings commenced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) for anti-competitive behaviour arising out of the same set of facts relating to the allegations in the Federal Court case. The lead trial counsel of the FTC has stated that "given the significant differences in the factual and legal issues raised by the FTC's antitrust claims and Infineon's fraud claims, we do not expect that this ruling will have a substantial impact on our case going forward." It is highly likely that the outcome of the FTC proceedings (and the Rambus-Infineon case) will be studied closely by other bodies involved in the formulation of technical standards, such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and by participants in such bodies. For a copy of the decision, visit: http://www.fedcir.gov/opinions/01-1449.doc For additional Information, visit: http://news.com.com/2100-1001-982641.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/5058600.htm Anticipating IP-related litigation, contact Doug Deeth (ddeeth@dww.com) or Tina Nanov (tnanov@dww.com) of DWW.