Hynix Agrees to Pay Rambus $397 Mln Settlement…Unless it Wins an Appeal

Hynix has agreed to pay Rambus some $397 million in compulsory licenses to settle patent infringement claims...but says it will still appeal, and that Rambus' patents aren't valid.

The decade-old patent infringement battle between Rambus and, well, pretty much everybody has taken another step towards closure, with the U.S. District Court for the North District of California entering a final judgment against Hynix for a total of $397 million. Of that figure, $134 million will cover patent infringement between December 31, 2005, while another $215 million will cover infringement from January 1, 2006, through the end of January 2009. Rambus was also awarded another $48 million in interest.

Moving forward, Hynix will have to pay Rambus royalties on net sales of particular memory products from January 31, 2009, through Paril 18, 2010: the amounts are 1 percent for SDR SDRAM products and 4.25 percent for DDR SDRAM products, with the latter rate applying to DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, GDDR2, GDDR3 SDRAM, and DDR SGRAM products.

“We are pleased with the Court’s decision and are gratified by the tremendous time and energy the Court has dedicated to this matter,” said Rambus senior VP and general counsel Thomas Lavelle, in a statement. “Though this case has been long and arduous, we remain steadfast in our commitment to seek fair compensation for the use of our patented innovations.”

Hynix, for its part, has complied with the orders of the court, but says it disagrees with the judgement and may pursue an appeal to the Federal Circuit, and notes that another court found Rambus destroyed evidence, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently issues rulings finding Rambus’s patents invalid.

The court’s judgement is stayed for 14 days to give Hynix time to file an appeal.