Jury rebuffs Rambus in lawsuit against Micron and Hynix

A US JURY has has found for the defendants regarding antitrust claims made by intellectual property firm Rambus against chipmakers Micron and Hynix, marking one of the highest profile legal losses for the firm.

The California jury decided that the chip companies did not conspire either among themselves or with Infineon and Samsung to fix RAM prices in order to increase the prices of Rambus-licensed products in an effort to hurt its business. The jury also found that both companies did not conspire to hinder Rambus' relationship with Intel.

Rambus claimed that Micron and Hynix had acted in an anti-competitive manner that caused a significant impact on its business. Rambus had asked for roughly $4bn in damages, a figure that could have tripled to around $12bn under California law if it had won its case. The case was filed seven years ago and went to trial in June.

"We do not agree with the several rulings that affected how this case was presented to the jury and we are reviewing our options for appeal," said Harold Hughes, CEO of Rambus, according to the Associated Press. Both Micron and Hynix said they were pleased with the decision.

Rambus has become notorious in technology circles for its multiple lawsuits against numerous companies, including Samsung and Nvidia. It has traditionally been very successful in winning these cases, making this loss an even bigger blow.

Shares of Rambus fell sharply by 61 per cent after the jury's decision, while Micron's shares shot up over 23 per cent and Hynix shares went up nearly six per cent. µ