NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- A class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all shareholders who purchased the common stock of Rambus, Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS) between February 11, 2000 and May 9, 2001 (the "class period").
The complaint alleges that Rambus, a chip technology designer, and certain of its officers and directors violated the federal securities laws by disseminating false and misleading information about the Company. Specifically, Rambus falsely promoted its patents and technologies relating to SDRAM chips and collected millions of dollars in royalties from the licensing of the SDRAM technology to other companies. As a result of the income generated from these licensing arrangements and the enormous amount of royalties Rambus was telling investors it would collect in the future from licensing its SDRAM patents, the common stock of Rambus surged to as high as $450 per share prior before splitting four for one during the class period.
In the course of its self-promotion, however, Rambus failed to disclose to investors that its SDRAM patents were illegally obtained during meetings at the Joint Electronic Devices Engineering Council ("JEDEC"), an association of semiconductor manufacturers and designers that jointly develop industry-wide, open technical standards for semiconductor products, including SDRAM technology. The complaint alleges that Rambus attended at least fifteen JEDEC committee meetings in which the development of an industry standard for SDRAM technology was discussed. During these meetings various committee members made technical presentations on a variety of aspects of SDRAM technology for inclusion in the proposed standard. Unbeknownst to the JEDEC committee members or the public, Rambus was secretly using the information learned at the JEDEC meetings to patent the SDRAM technology. After it obtained its SDRAM patents, Rambus began demanding royalties from microprocessor companies employing the SDRAM technology. Companies that refused to pay Rambus were sued. Unaware that Rambus had obtained its patented technology improperly, microprocessor-makers representing nearly half the market, including Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, Oki Electric Industry, Elpida Memory and Samsung Electronics, agreed to pay license fees to Rambus.
On August 8, 2000, Rambus sued Infineon Technologies AG ("Infineon") for patent violations, claiming that Infineon used SDRAM technology without paying a licensing fee to Rambus. Infineon counterclaimed, alleging (1) that the patents were invalid and (2) fraud based on Rambus' improper conduct during the JEDEC committee meetings. On May 9, 2001, a jury found that the SDRAM patents had in fact been fraudulently obtained. On August 9, 2001, the Court in the Infineon case confirmed the jury's finding with regard to the SDRAM patents, ordered that Rambus pay Infineon $7.1 million in legal fees, and prohibited Rambus from pursuing patent-infringement litigation against Infineon for its SDRAM products.
By the end of the class period, when the full extent of Rambus' fraudulent activity was discovered, Rambus' shares had declined to about $10 per share, causing investors millions of dollars in damages. The class action seeks to recover the damages caused by the improper conduct described above. If you are a member of the class described above, you may, no later than October 9, 2001, seek to participate in this action as a lead plaintiff. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. If you have any questions, wish to discuss this matter, or would like to receive a copy of the complaint and the documents necessary to participate as a lead plaintiff, you may contact:
Eduard Korsinsky, Esq. or Ben Coleman, Legal Assistant Beatie And Osborn LLP 521 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, New York 10175 Toll Free No.: 800-891-6305 Tel. No.: 212-888-9000 Fax No.: 212-888-9664 E-mail: clientrelations@bandolaw.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca