Court Denies Rambus Patent Claim Again

For a second time, a U.S. judge has shot down an appeal by Rambus in its patent infringement case against Infineon Technologies .

The five-year-old lawsuit is based on Rambus' claims that its German rival copied its SDRAM and DDR DRAM memory designs and began using them without paying licensing fees. The rulings came after the Court of Appeals remanded the case back to the Eastern District of Virginia.

U.S. District Judge Robert Payne said this week's dismissal was partially based on Infineon's argument that Rambus destroyed documents pertaining to its corporate patent strategy.

Infineon spokesman Christoph Liedtke said the company is relieved that the matter is behind it for now.

"Infineon is pleased that the court has found that Rambus's egregious conduct, including shredding key documents, failing to produce evidence, and testifying falsely under oath ... was so improper as to warrant the dismissal of all of Rambus' remaining patent claims in this case," Liedtke said.

"Infineon has proven by clear and convincing evidence that Rambus is guilty and liable" for having "unclean hands," a Bloomberg News story quoted Payne saying. The report also said Payne would submit a longer reason for his decision at a later date.

Rambus General Counsel John Danforth said his company plans on submitting yet another appeal.

"We look forward to eventually presenting our patent claims on the merits so our contributions to the industry and the value of our inventions are clear," Danforth said in a statement.

The company said it may have a case because the court previously ruled against Rambus on other grounds -- rulings that were reversed by the Court of Appeals in 2003.

This Infineon lawsuit is one of four currently pending U.S. patent cases involving Rambus. The company is also suing Hynix Semiconductor, Inotera Memories and Nanya Technology after it claims as many as 18 Rambus patents started showing up in devices that are currently shipping.

Rambus also has a patent infringement case pending against Micron Technologies .

However, if the Virginia case involving Infineon holds on the basis that Rambus destroyed documents, it may dismantle Rambus' assertion that its rivals are conspiring against it.

Rambus accused Hynix, Micron, Infineon and Siemens of price fixing and conspiracy to drive its RDRAM technology out of the market.

The $1 billion antitrust case is being held in California Superior Court in San Francisco, where Rambus had filed the complaint 10 months ago. The U.S. Department of Justice is also looking into the charges of collusion.