Rambus says FTC has dropped antitrust claims

NEW YORK -- Rambus Inc. said Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission has dropped its claim that the memory chip company violated antitrust laws in patenting technologies that were eventually incorporated into industry standards.

The company's shares jumped 12 percent in midday trading Thursday.

Rambus has fought several legal battles over chip patents, which generate most of its revenue. Chip manufacturers forced to pay royalties to Rambus have accused the company of quietly seeking rights to memory chip technology in the early 1990s even as it participated in an industry standards-setting body, thereby profiting from the body's decisions.

Los Altos, Calif.-based Rambus has consistently denied wrongdoing. The company's general counsel, Thomas Lavelle, said in a statement Thursday, "We are pleased to have finally put this matter behind us."

The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agency ruled in 2006 that Rambus had violated antitrust laws. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the decision in 2008 and sent the case back to the FTC, saying the agency had not come up with enough evidence to prove that Rambus had sought a monopoly or hurt competition.

Just weeks earlier, a federal jury in San Jose, Calif., had cleared Rambus of antitrust charges brought by chip makers Micron Technology Inc. of Boise, Idaho, Hynix Semiconductor Inc. of Icheon, South Korea, and Nanya Technology Corp. of Kueishan, Taiwan.

Like the FTC, those companies charged Rambus with deliberately withholding information from the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council, or JEDEC, which counted Rambus as a member as it established guidelines for the computer memory industry.

A federal judge affirmed the jury's decision this March, saying Rambus had no clear obligation to disclose pending or future patent applications while it held a spot on the council.

Dan Prywes, an outside lawyer representing JEDEC in the FTC's case, said the council still maintains that members must disclose their patent activities while serving on standards-setting committees.

Prywes contends the FTC made a convincing case that Rambus violated the policy. He said the agency's decision to drop its charges "does not undermine the principle that a company's deception during the standard-setting process can violate antitrust laws."

Rambus shares rose $1.29, or 12 percent, to $12.07.