Rambus threatening to sue nVidia?, how do they have all these patents?

[soulm4tter]

Article found here. I didn't read what the patent is they are threatening to sue about, but i'm going to do some research now. Rambus seems to have gotten many memory makers to give in and sign licensing agreements and pay them royalities for patents Rambus holds. What is their secrets? Is this why Intel invested big in Rambus? There is something very shady about Rambus and i don't like it. I didn't like the way Creative did Aureal either.....=( Its a mean business world.

 

[IaPuP]

They're suing for the use of a DDR memory controller.

Rambus claims to have rights on all DDR memory and their controllers.

I can't name a company that isn't in developemnt or production of a DDR product.

Its like 3COM trying to sue people for marketing things that connect to the internet.

Eric

 

[pm]

Taken from the About section at the Rambus webpage:

"Rambus Inc. was founded in 1990 by Dr. Mike Farmwald and Dr. Mark Horowitz, foremost experts in electrical and computer engineering."

This is a true statement. There can be no doubt that Mark Horowitz definitely is a foremost expert in electrical and computer engineering. That's at least one reason why they have all these patents - the founder of the company is a electrical engineering guru.

This thread (83 posts long) has a very long discussion of this.

 

[IaPuP]

Granted- they have a few engineers.

JDEC developed SDRAM and DDR for the benefit of the industry.

They WOULD NOT have developed either technology along lines that would violate patents. It is in direct conflict with the nature and purpose of the organization.

Rambus was a member of the JDEC commission on SDRAM and was required to submit its patents and therefore the patents have no validity.

The US Patent system is CRAP

Here's a good example:

Granted: Aug. 22, 1995
Application Number: US1993000144473

1. A method of inducing aerobic exercise in an unrestrained cat comprising the steps of:

(a) directing an intense coherent beam of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser apparatus to produce a bright highly-focused pattern of light at the intersection of the beam and an opaque surface, said pattern being of visual interest to a cat; and
(b) selectively redirecting said beam out of the cat's immediate reach to induce said cat to run and chase said beam and pattern of light around an exercise area.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said bright pattern of light is small in area relative to a paw of the cat.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said beam remains invisible between said laser and said opaque surface until impinging on said opaque surface.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) includes sweeping said beam at an angular speed to cause said pattern to move along said opaque surface at a speed in the range of five to twenty-five feet per second.


bullshit

Eric