Rambus Inc. one of the world’s premier technology licensing
companies specializing in high-speed memory architectures, today
announced that the European Commission (the “Commission”) has accepted
commitments proposed by Rambus to resolve the matter that had been
pending with the Commission. This decision by the Commission brings the
matter to a close. As part of the settlement, the Commission makes no
finding of liability, and no fine will be assessed against Rambus.
Rambus, for its part, commits to offer licenses with maximum royalty
rates for certain memory types and memory controllers on a
forward-going basis.
“We are pleased to have this matter closed with the Commission.
Following a long and detailed examination of the facts, the Commission
did not find that Rambus violated the law, nor did it impose any fine,”
said Thomas Lavelle, senior vice president and general counsel at
Rambus. “For our part, we agree to offer licenses at attractive rates
for customers to use our patented innovations in computing and
electronics products for consumers worldwide.”
Rambus offers licenses with maximum royalty rates for five-year
worldwide licenses of 1.5% for DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3 and GDDR4 SDRAM memory
types. Qualified Licensees will enjoy a royalty holiday for SDR and DDR
DRAM devices, subject to compliance with the terms of the license. In
addition, Rambus offers licenses with maximum royalty rates for
five-year worldwide licenses of 1.5% per unit for SDR memory
controllers through April 2010, dropping to 1.0% thereafter, and
royalty rates of 2.65% per unit for DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3 and GDDR4
memory controllers through April 2010, then dropping to 2.0%. Rambus
will offer these licensing rates for the next five years. The royalty
rates are applicable to future shipments only, and do not resolve any
existing claims in other cases.
The European Commission originally brought charges against Rambus in
August 2007 alleging violation of European Union competition law. The
Commission’s investigation followed complaints set forth by certain
DRAM manufacturers originating with Rambus’ 1992-1995 participation in
an industry standard-setting organization, the Joint Electron Device
Engineering Council (“JEDEC”). Similar charges had been pursued by the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States. The FTC has closed
its investigation following a series of U.S. Court rulings underlining
that the allegations of Rambus’ wrongdoing were ill-founded. On June
12, 2009, the European Commission announced its intention to accept
Rambus’ proposed commitments, subject to market testing as prescribed
by EU law. Following the market testing, certain terms of the
Commitment were amended by Rambus resulting in this matter coming to a
close.
