Friday, January 17, 2003
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is asking a federal judge for an immediate antitrust ruling against Rambus, accusing the technology company of destroying evidence.
The FTC told administrative law judge James Timony that Rambus had forfeited its right to a trial, citing the company for "willful, bad-faith destruction of material evidence," according to documents filed with the court on Dec. 20.
The FTC asked Timony to begin considering possible sanctions against the company, and the agency is expected to release further details of the allegations in coming days.
At issue are antitrust charges the FTC filed against Rambus in August in which the agency charged the firm with improperly patenting key computer chip technologies.
The FTC contends Rambus participated for more than four years in an industry standard-setting group without disclosing it had a patent and several pending patent applications for specific technologies ultimately adopted by the group.
The FTC's complaint could force Rambus to walk away from enforcing patent claims worth more than a billion dollars in royalties from memory-chip makers.
Rambus, whose technology is used in memory chips found in high-end PCs and servers, insists it did nothing wrong.
Rambus general counsel John Danforth on Thursday dismissed the FTC's latest allegations as bogus claims recycled from past private lawsuits against the company.
"There's no basis in law or fact for what they're seeking," Danforth said.
Danforth attributed the FTC's legal maneuver to "a growing awareness that they cannot support the allegations on the merits."
Danforth said the tactic was designed "to distract attention from their failure of proof" or "to make us look bad in the eyes of the public."
By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved
|
