Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501) today announced that its patent litigation with Rambus Inc.,
of Mountain View, California has been settled.
Rambus had filed patent infringement claims against Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi
Semiconductor (America) Inc. in U.S. District Court. Rambus also initiated
an investigation of Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc., Sega
Enterprises, Ltd. and Sega of America, Inc. in the United States International Trade
Commission, and Rambus filed a patent infringement suit against a Hitachi subsidiary
in a court in Mannheim, Germany. Hitachi denied the Rambus allegations and asserted
affirmative defenses and counterclaims against Rambus.
Under the agreement announced today, all pending litigation will be terminated,
subject to court and agency approval. Rambus has granted Hitachi a world-wide license
under certain Rambus patents and patent applications for single and double data rate
synchronous dynamic random access memory devices, and controllers which interface with
such memory devices. The specific terms of the license agreement are confidential.
"I believe that the early settlement of these lawsuits ensures further growth
of Hitachi's semiconductor business." said Tadashi Ishibashi, President and CEO,
Semiconductor & Integrated Circuits of Hitachi, Ltd. "In addition, Hitachi wishes to
re-establish the good business relationship that had existed between the companies
since 1992, when the original Hitachi-Rambus license was executed," said Mr. Ishibashi.
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