Judge Declines to Dismiss Lawsuit Against Infineon

A federal judge refused Monday to dismiss a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by Rambus Inc. against German chip maker Infineon Technologies until after he hears from witnesses about allegations of destroyed documents.

U.S. District Judge Robert Payne declined to grant Infineon’s request to dismiss the case based only on arguments from lawyers. Instead, he ordered a Feb. 22 hearing to listen to testimony about Rambus’ document retention policy. The trial had been scheduled to begin that day in Richmond, Va.

Rambus, which doesn’t actually manufacturer the chips it designs, claims its patents cover aspects of all chips made in the $26-billion memory-chip market. Infineon accused the company of purposely destroying evidence and making misrepresentations to ensure that chip companies couldn’t challenge the patents.

“There remain genuine issues of material facts that must be resolved,” Payne said in his order issued Monday.

Infineon spokesman Christoph Liedtke had no immediate comment.

“We look forward to resolution of all issues and litigation of our patent claims,” General Counsel John Danforth said in an e-mailed statement.

At a two-day hearing late last week, Infineon lawyer John Desmarais accused Palo Alto-based Rambus of destroying evidence related to the company’s patent applications, litigation strategy and participation in a group that set standards for the memory chip industry.

Desmarais claimed Rambus then tried to create a false record of documents to thwart the defense of companies that were being sued for patent infringement.

Rambus lawyer Gregory Stone said the policy followed by Rambus was the same as any other company to cut down on office clutter and overcrowded computer space. Although he admitted that the company’s production of subpoenaed documents “was far from perfect,” Stone said Rambus did not destroy any relevant documents.

At last week’s hearings, Payne expressed concern about ruling on the allegations by Munich-based Infineon without hearing from some of the people Desmarais claimed in his arguments are participating in the document destruction.

“If what you say is true, it’s not something to treat lightly,” Payne said during Saturday’s hearing. “These are serious charges of an effort to cover up” wrongful acts.

Rambus designs memory chips that are then manufactured by other companies such as Infineon and used in computers and other electronics such as Sony Corp.’s PlayStation.