USB4 Gen3X2 and DP1.4 X4 PHY IP with Type-C connector support
Rambus accused of ITC 'judge shopping' in DRAM patent complaint
Rambus accused of ITC 'judge shopping' in DRAM patent complaint
By Jack Robertson, EBN
November 16, 2000 (6:19 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20001115S0062
WASHINGTON -- Rambus Inc. was reprimanded for "blatant judge shopping" in an official ruling at the U.S. International Trade Commission and restrictions imposed on the DRAM designer if it ever filed another synchronous DRAM patent complaint at the trade body. ITC Administrative Law Judge Sidney Harris ruled that when Rambus abruptly withdrew its patent violation case against Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. assigned to him, the company was engaged in "judge shopping" because the firm didn't want him to handle the case. Legal sources said Harris has a reputation for being a tough magistrate and has been known frequently to rule against patents of firms filing complaints. Rambus filed to withdraw its ITC patent suit against Hyundai soon after Harris was assigned the case. In his ruling Harris said when Rambus filed its petition the firm had expected to have its case heard before Administrative Law Judge Paul Luckern, who was next in the rotatio n of assignments to be assigned a new ITC complaint. However, at the last minute The ITC assigned Luckern to hear another case, so the Rambus petition went before Harris. "The facts and circumstances in this investigation...appear to show a blatant instance of judge shopping," Harris ruled. In documents filed in the case, Rambus denied it was guilty of judge shopping. The firm said it withdrew the complaint based on confidential strategic factors. Judge Harris rejected the Rambus response as vague allegations of litigation strategy, which is not described in detail and not even mentioned in the original motion to withdraw the case. It constitutes a failure to rebut the strong inference of judge shopping, he ruled. The claim of "privileged" litigation strategy is highly improbable, the judge added, saying that "Rambus has engaged in impermissible judge shopping." Harris ruled that if Rambus in the future ever filed a new synchronous patent infringement case against Hyundai, or even any other fi rm, such a petition must be assigned to his court if he is able to hear it.
Related News
- ITC agrees to investigate Rambus' patent claims against Hitachi, Sega
- ITC to investigate Tessera's patent complaint against Sharp, TI
- TI asks judge to block ITC review of Tessera's patent violation claim
- Administrative Law Judge in ITC Investigation Issues Initial Determination Granting LG's Motion to Terminate Investigation as to LG
- Rambus Files ITC Complaint against Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek, NVIDIA and STMicroelectronics
Breaking News
- Arm revenues up 47%; shares fall
- Sondrel awarded new Video Processor ASIC design and supply contract for a leading provider of High-Performance Video systems
- X-Silicon Announces a NEW Low-Power Open-Standard Vulkan-Enabled C-GPU™ - a RISC-V Vector CPU Infused with GPU ISA and AI/ML acceleration in a Single Processor Core
- Softbank reported to be in talks to buy Graphcore
- VESA Elevates PC and Laptop HDR Display Performance with Updated DisplayHDR Specification
Most Popular
- Synopsys Enters Definitive Agreement to Sell its Software Integrity Business to Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners
- Fabless semiconductor startup Mindgrove launches India's first indigenously designed commercial high-performance MCU chip
- sureCore announces successful tape-out of cryogenic IP demonstrator
- Siemens delivers end-to-end silicon quality assurance for next-generation IC designs with new Solido IP Validation Suite
- Announcing Availability of Silicon-Proven 12bit 1Msps SAR ADC IP Core for Whitebox Licensing with Royalty Free
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |