Rambus accused of destroying evidence

Ramubus earns revenue by licensing its computer memory technology to dram manufacturers and had prepared 12 of its patents in a suit against Micron. This is not the first time the company has been involved in legal cases against semiconductor companies, demanding royalties worth millions of dollars. However, many companies are not taking the allegations lying down – last year, companies such as Hynix and Samsung took Rambus to court with accusations of fraud. They lost. However, Judge Sue Robinson of the US District Court of Wilmingon, Delaware said that in this instance Rambus’ destruction of documents that were potentially discoverable was both ‘obstructive’ and ‘misleading’, disallowing the use of 12 patents in its suit against Micron. Rod Lewis, Micron’s vp of legal affairs, warned: “We believe that the decision is applicable to other pending cases and we are reviewing the ruling to determine its potential impact.”