Rambus is one of the most recognised patent trolls of all time, although Apple are certainly doing a good job of catching up. Rambus is notorious for taking up legal action against companies it feels are infringing on its intellectual property rights. It has taken up lawsuits with some of the most recognised companies across the world: Hynix, Samsung, Infineon, Nanya, Inotera and Micron in a wide spread of memory-related disputes. The most recent company Rambus has taken a disliking to is Broadcom and this case seems to have been settled in peaceful terms (by Rambus’ standards anyway).
The deal lets Broadcom use Rambus technologies in integrated circuits which they use to manufacture their products. Neither company disclosed any financial details of the deal and it will probably stay that way for a long while, as we know Rambus has a history of hiding things (or if that doesn’t work then the shredder is also useful). The settlement means that the previous charges Rambus filed against Broadcom have been dropped:
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Broadcom, a global leader in the semiconductor industry,” said Sharon Holt, senior vice president and general manager of the Semiconductor Business Group at Rambus. “We are committed to continuing the development of innovative technologies to help our licensees deliver great products to the market.”
