Thursday, April 30, 2009

Rambus 10Q - Updates

Hynix litigation update: On March 10, 2009, the court entered final judgment against Hynix in the amount of approximately $397 million as follows: approximately $134 million for infringement through December 31, 2005; approximately $215 million for infringement from January 1, 2006 through January 31, 2009; and approximately $48 million in pre-judgment interest. Post-judgment interest will accrue at the statutory rate. In addition, the judgment orders Hynix to pay Rambus royalties on net sales for U.S. infringement after January 31, 2009 and before April 18, 2010 of 1% for SDR SDRAM and 4.25% by DDR DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, GDDR2 and GDDR3 SDRAM memory devices. On April 9, 2009, Rambus submitted its cost bill in the amount of approximately $0.9 million. On March 24, 2009, Hynix filed a motion under Rule 62 seeking relief from the requirement that it post a supersedeas bond in the full amount of the final judgment in order to stay its execution pending an appeal. Rambus filed a brief opposing Hynix’s motion on April 10, 2009. A hearing on Hynix’s motion is scheduled for May 8, 2009. Execution of the judgment is stayed until two weeks after the hearing date or until such time as may otherwise be ordered by the court.

On April 6, 2009, Hynix filed its notice of appeal. On April 17, 2009, Rambus filed its notice of cross appeal. The parties’ opening briefs are not yet due.

Micron litigation update: On January 9, 2009, the court issued an opinion in which it determined that Rambus had engaged in spoliation of evidence by failing to suspend general implementation of a document retention policy after the court determined that litigation was reasonably foreseeable. The court issued an accompanying order declaring the twelve patents in suit unenforceable against Micron (the “Delaware Order”). On February 9, 2009, the court stayed all other proceedings pending appeal of the Delaware Order. On February 10, 2009, judgment was entered against Rambus and in favor of Micron on Rambus’ patent infringement claims and Micron’s corresponding claims for declaratory relief. On March 11, 2009, Rambus filed its notice of appeal. Rambus’ opening brief is not yet due.


Patent foundation: As of March 31, 2009, our chip interface technologies are covered by more than 790 U.S. and foreign patents. Additionally, we have approximately 550 patent applications pending.

Customer concentration: ......our top five licensees representing approximately 79% and 67% of our revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2009 and 2008, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2009, revenue from Fujitsu, NEC, AMD and Panasonic each accounted for 10% or more of our total revenue.