Rambus Commentary

The Merc ran this story today, exhibiting the usual outsider's confusion about the issues. I wrote this clarifying email to the reporter, which will probably have no effect, because why work to understand something so complicated?

My response:

Mr. Goel --

You will probably get feedback from rabid partisans. I'll try to be more thoughtful.

You should have emphasized that it is legal and expected that patent holders will file for new claims that cover competitor's use of their patented technology. Rambus was invited to participate in JEDEC but never allowed to present their preferred embodiment of their patented technologies, RDRAM, for standardization -- blocked by the chairman, an IBM employee who wrote in a memo prior to his action that Rambus' memory would interfere with IBM plans. When it became apparent the deck was stacked against them, Rambus withdrew from JEDEC. If Rambus had never been a member, JEDEC meetings were public in any case and there would have been no bar to gathering the information needed to be sure claims filed covered the features they were using.

The larger story is about a transition in the industry -- from ad hoc addition of features cross-licensed between major memory makers to a systems approach required to squeeze out more performance, which the memory makers had not been able to achieve themselves. They were unused to having to pay for IP since prior to Rambus innovations had always come from large companies who needed many patents themselves, so actual cash payments for IP were rare.

The trial is bringing out evidence of conspiracy between the memory makers to suppress Rambus' RDRAM while cherry-picking Rambus' patented features to continue the haphazard progress of memory speed in their old business model. They hoped and believed most of the patents would not be issued or could be litigated away, but they were wrong. The other half of the industry licensed, but the ones who did not took a risk, and it appears the legal system will finally make them acknowledge their mistake.