The US Supreme Court handed chip designer Rambus a victory on Monday, when it refused to hear an appeal by the US Federal Trade Commission that alleged the company violated antitrust laws under the Sherman Antitrust Act.
For Rambus, the move ends a seven-year battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In 2002, the FTC alleged that the company intentionally withheld its patent plans from a standards body that later gave the green light to Rambus technology now found in the vast majority of PCs and servers around the world.
"It's a good day for us," said Rambus general counsel Thomas Lavelle. "The Sherman II claims are dead and over."
Lavelle, however, noted it may not be the last that the company will see of the FTC.
Over the years, the FTC has periodically told Rambus it may bring a case against it under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, Lavelle said. But he noted that the underlying facts in that type of case would be the same as in the failed Sherman Antitrus Act case. Section 5 cases allege deceptive and unfair practices in commerce.
David Wales, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, said in a statement: "This is not the decision we were hoping for, and we are reviewing our options."
In the meantime, Rambus' patent-infringement lawsuits against memory-chip makers Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology, Hynix Semiconductor and Nanya Technology are still ongoing.
These cases, which could potentially yield millions of dollars to Rambus, were put on hold earlier this month after a US district court judge postponed them indefinitely, pending appeals of earlier court decisions. Prior to the postponement, those cases were set for trial this month.
The Supreme Court victory doesn't further Rambus's cause in its patent-infringement cases.
Last March, Rambus deflected similar allegations to those made by the FTC in its patent-infringement cases. The Supreme Court decision, at most, continues to keep the memory-chip makers from using such an argument as a defence.
