Hitachi settles up with Rambus in Ram dispute

Rambus has said that Hitachi has agreed to sign a licence agreement for its technology, ending the patent dispute between the two companies.

Rambus has said that Hitachi has agreed to sign a licence agreement for its technology, ending the patent dispute between the two companies.

Rambus sued Hitachi for patent infringement, seeking to halt the importation, sale and manufacturing of Hitachi PC100/ PC133 SDRam, DDR SDRam, SGRam, Dimm modules, SH-2, SH-3, SH-4 and SH-5 microprocessors.

Hitachi will pay Rambus an up-front settlement fee and quarterly royalty payments as part of the agreement. A Rambus representative said: "The royalty rates for DDR SDRam and the controllers, which directly interface with them, are greater than the RDRam compatible rates."

The settlement comes a week after Toshiba signed its own licence agreement with Rambus involving SDRam and DDR SDRam under similar agreement conditions.

Toshiba's agreement was seen as a fundamental shift in power for Rambus.

Both agreements could seriously affect the memory market. Any company that makes SDRam, DDR SGRam/SDRam, or controllers that interface with the memory, may now be forced to sign a licensing agreement with Rambus, which will add to the cost of overall memory production, possibly raising prices.