Just a day after filing a lawsuit in Virginia, Micron Technology Inc. Thursday announced that it has brought a new lawsuit against memory interface IP supplier Rambus Inc. in the court of Milan, Italy.

In the suit, Boise, Idaho-based Micron and its Italian subsidiary, Micron Technology Italia S.r.l., seek more than $30 million in damages and interest relating to a preliminary patent infringement action initiated by Rambus in September 2000.

Micron's complaint claims that Rambus wrongfully obtained an order to seize certain materials from a Micron facility in Avezzano, Italy, while knowing that the Court of Monza, Italy, lacked jurisdiction over Micron. The complaint further alleges that the Court of Monza granted the order, at least in part, in reliance on Rambus misrepresentations, and that Rambus enforced the seizure order in bad faith causing injury to Micron. 

"We believe that Rambus abused the legal process, and that Micron is entitled to recover damages caused by Rambus' actions in Italy," said Rod Lewis, Micron's VP of legal affairs and general counsel, in a statement.

Rambus did not comment when queried by Electronic News.

The Monza judge ultimately found that Micron's memory products did not infringe the Rambus patent, Micron said, explaining further that the European patent office later invalidated and revoked the Rambus patent at issue in the Italy proceeding, and has preliminarily revoked two other Rambus patents on the basis that Rambus improperly attempted to expand the claims of the patents. Separately, a court in London, dismissed Rambus' patent infringement suit after the European patent office revoked the patent. The court recently awarded Micron costs.

This is the latest in an ongoing legal battle between the two memory players. On Tuesday, Micron filed suit against Rambus in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging that Rambus violated sections of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and Virginia conspiracy laws through a pattern of illegal conduct. And a month ago, Rambus took Micron to court asserting infringement of its patents by Micron’s DDR2, GDDR2 and GDDR3, and other memory devices that are currently shipping in the marketplace.

By: DocMemory
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