also @ TechSpot: Rumor: AMD "Piledriver" FX CPU production to begin Q3 2012

FTC continues the fight against Rambus

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On August 2, 2006, 7:29 PM EST

Every once in a while we'll hear more news from Rambus. Sadly, that news tends to be about some legal fiasco they are involved in. That's exactly what's happening now, but this time it's Rambus on the receiving end. The US Federal Trade Commission has found that Rambus illegally monopolized technologies used in DRAM. In particular the FTC is upset with the apparent deception that the company used to conceal certain patents until after JEDEC had already approved standards based around them:

Today's FTC ruling builds on four years of legal wrangling with Rambus. The commission had accused Rambus of deceiving the memory standard-setting body JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) by failing to disclose intentions to patent technology that would eventually be part of the DDR SDRAM specification. These past claims have been confirmed by the FTC's unanimous ruling today against Rambus.
Considering the biggest leg that Rambus has to stand on is the leg supported by money from lawsuits and settlements, this really does not bode well for them. We won't be seeing the end of this for a long time, unfortunately. Thankfully it is impacting DRAM markets in a fairly limited fashion.

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