Rambus Wins Patent Infringement Ruling

Shares of Rambus Inc., a designer of high-speed memory chips, rose 13% on Thursday after the company said it had won a ruling that Hynix Semiconductor Inc. infringed some Rambus patents.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte in San Jose found that Hynix infringed 29 elements of four patents, Los Altos, Calif.-based Rambus said. A March trial will assess Hynix’s contention that the Rambus patents are invalid or cannot be enforced.

Thursday’s ruling marked the first time a federal judge had determined that the Rambus patents were infringed. Rambus, whose designs boost the speed and efficiency of memory devices in computers, claims its patents cover aspects of all memory chips made in the $26-billion industry. Icheon, South Korea-based Hynix is one of three memory chip makers that are contesting the patents.

“This is the marquee decision for Rambus,” said Erach Desai, an analyst with American Technology Research in Greenwich, Conn. “Now we will see whether the parties say, ‘Let’s go to the negotiating table’ and settle, or continue to play the delay game.”

Hynix is the world’s second-biggest memory chip maker, with about 16.4% of the global market, according to preliminary figures released Thursday by technology industry researcher ISuppli Corp.

Industry leader Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea already licenses Rambus patents.

Rambus shares rose $2.30 to $20.15 on Nasdaq.

Rambus general counsel John Danforth said the ruling was “great news and a major step forward toward our goal of being fairly compensated for our innovations. We look forward to trial.”

Hynix lawyer Kenneth Nissly said the ruling was just “one part of the process of litigating this patent case.”