Patent Law

Rambus Relieved

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

The anti-patent FTC lost its bid to kick Rambus around some more with its antitrust boots. The Supreme Court demurred from taking the case. Without comment.

In 2002, the FTC brought charges against Rambus for patenting what became an industry standard for DRAM memory chips. In early 2004, the FTC's assigned administrative law judge ruled in favor of Rambus. The furious full commission, fully politicized, reversed that. In mid-2006, the FTC charged Rambus with illegal monopoly. In early 2007, the FTC forced compulsory licensing upon Rambus, capping the royalty rates. Fighting back, on appeal, last April the CAFC told the FTC they were shooting blanks, and took the cuffs off Rambus.

So the FTC tried to get the Supreme Court to whip out its ultimate billy club. Even the Bush administration had declined to back the FTC in its religious crusade to the high court.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on February 23, 2009 (boomark / email).