Joe's Rambus Inc. Links

Rambus has purchased memory-device packaging patents:

Rambus says, these newly acquired patented innovations are key enablers for achieving high manufacturing yields in System-in-Package (SiP) implementations.

Post by eng94th on the IV Rambus board: AN OPEN LETTER TO JUDGE WHYTE

You relish the reputation of being the grand patent whiz – but you live in constant fear of being overruled. Hence, the interminable delays and total lack of understanding business realities. Wake-up Whyte - settlement without a favorable Ranbus decision will just not take place.

Interview with Thomas Lavelle is senior vice president and general counsel:

Q: Do you have any pet peeves in working with outside counsel? And by contrast, are there things that you find make the relationship work well?

A: Given how much effort and energy we put into our legal bills and our relationships, I don't see any major problems. As far as pet peeves overall, I guess I'd say it's when you have multiple counsel billing you for things you didn't ask them to do. I've seen that happen too often. It's part of the difference between the in-house legal function and the outside law firm. We want low risk but as little time and energy spent as humanly possible [by outside lawyers]. One of the things that seems contrary to common sense [occurs when] I find and use a very expensive per-hour lawyer. I can spend five or 10 minutes and get a complete answer in a way I can't with a junior lawyer. On the same question I'll get a bill 10 times as high from the junior lawyer. My job is to reduce the question down to something that can be answered by a very smart, capable lawyer.

Joe's links

Anton Shilov writing for Xbit Laboratories reports that it is expected that the GDDR5 memory standard will be around for a long time and that it is supported by Hynix Semiconductor, Qimonda and Samsung Electronics. More here.

and,

Nvidia Corp is readying its support for GDDR with its code-named GT214 graphics processing unit. More here.

iSupply's recent teardown of Sony's Playstatation 3 reveals that Sony is still losing money up front on each unit sold, but less today than two years ago - $50 versus the earlier $240. The details in an interesting piece at DailyTech here.

Joe's Links

Elpida Memory is rumored to be on the hunt to acquire one or more Taiwan based memory manufacturers. Yukio Sakamoto, president & CEO is reported be visiting with Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs tomorrow (November 21). X-bit

Transmeta Corp is going private in a cash deal with Novafora Inc. worth a reported $255.6 million or in the neighborhood of $19.00. Extreme Tech

IBM and five universities want to build a computer that functions like a brain. the Inquirer

Nvidia launches a desktop supercomputer. Personal Computer World 

Semiconductor Industry Association predicts that the semiconductor market will slump in 2009. ars technica

Joe's Links

Wii rules now and analysts predict will in four years, but not without potential weakness - 3rd party games.

Yankee Group projects that in 2012, cumulative sales of the Wii will total 83.6 million units with Sony's PS3 in the No. 2 spot at 61.1 million units and Microsoft's Xbox 360 having sold 45.3 million units.

More at E-Commence News

Elpida Memory has recently come out with a shrunken 65nm process for the production of DRAM, putting development of 50nm on hold.

More at Digitimes 

Micron will reduce its worldwide workforce by 15% or 2,850 employees - most in Idaho. Micron is bleeding losses.

More at theinquirer

In time for the holiday season, Sony's PS3 base model in the Japanese market will be the 80 GB Playstation, which will include one wireless Dualshock 3 controller by default.

More at TG Daily

Interesting - thought provoking list of tech companies and their market caps and decline in value from 12 month high at TG Daily and Predator - Prey list at Computer World.

Joe's Links

Sony has plans to bring out a new Playstation 3 in time for the year end holidays. The new PS3 will sport a 160 GB hard drive and come bundled with Drake's Fortune for a few bits under $500. The Inquirer's spin.

The US Labor Department announced that jobless benefits claims dropped 13,000 last week and Rambus Inc. announced it would add 90 to the unemployed list. Yahoo!

Semico pimping its study DDR3 and the Rambus Tipping Point. I haven't read the report, but this caught my attention:

Semico has neither the legal expertise nor the desire to comment on these ongoing cases.

Then what exactly does the study offer of value beyond the following "free" statement:

“Regardless of the severity of the outcome, we believe that the majority of the disruption will fall on the price and availability of DDR3,” stated Bob Merritt, VP of Memory at Semico.

Interesting piece from Texas Lawyer on the slowing rocket docket. Lawyer, Steven R. Daniels, notes that asking the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine the patent "takes about two years from the time the office grants a petition for a re-examination to make a final determination."

Joe's Links

Schaefer notes that Rambus is skewed towards puts.

Seeking Alapha refers to Rambus a "universally hated extortionist". The author is long NVDA and opines:

Nonetheless, it is not in Rambus’s own interest to demand fees that would make it uneconomical for a company to make its product, or severely compromise the competitive position of a company, and the impact on Nvidia will probably be minor.

What? Is Nvidia going to simply stop making product? Fat chance.

The Ramboids comment. Likely, beyond the comprehension of a author who acknowledges in his post "The legal case is complicated and turns on obscure points of technology . . ." Perhaps the author would be wise to sell Nvidia until finding such time and intellect to allow comprehension?

IV post by btburn03 quoting Dr. Teece's report:

My overall conclusion can be briefly summarized as follows. For DDR+ SDRAM, a 7% "reasonable royalty" (calculated on a royalty base of worldwide DDR sales) for a "compulsory license" limited to Rambus' Patents-in-Suit would be appropriate, if not conservative.

IV post by AlphaOmega (Now God is posting about Rambus? Sorry just couldn't resist) quoting at length BSW research note targeting RMBS $14-$15 on the downside and $22-$25 on the upside.

Joe's Links

Toshiba denies that it has decided to pull the plug on HD DVD. DailyTech:

"We have not made any official decision yet," a Toshiba spokeswoman said, though acknowledged that Warner’s move to Blu-ray Disc did have a ripple effect. "We are cautiously assessing market movements as it is true that Warner Brother's decision to sell titles exclusively on Blu-rays affected our sales in January."

According to one unnamed source, "a complete withdrawal" is one of the options Toshiba is considering. If it were so, it would leave the format without any major maker of hardware, effectively terminating HD DVD quicker than through studio support loss.

Sony PlayStation 3 will outsell Nintendo's Wii in 2007. From TechOn:

iSuppli feels, however, that the PS3 will grow faster than the Wii, supported by core game fans. The company predicted PS3 sales will soar by an average of 39% every year from 2007 to 2011 to 38.4 million units in 2011. The PS3, Wii and Xbox will account for 35.4, 34.8 and 29.8%, respectively, of global sales in 2011, iSuppli said.

Toshiba shares climb in anticipation of Toshiba abandoning HD DVD. News.com reports:

Investors cheered an impending end to a format war for next-generation DVDs on Monday, pushing up shares of both Toshiba, on the verge of abandoning its HD DVD discs, and Sony, the leader of the rival Blu-ray camp.

More reports of scientists loving Sony PlayStation 3 for their research. This one from Telegraph.co.uk

Climate System Computing

The Register reports on the movement to create lower power cooler super computers. A couple snips follow. Head over to the Register for the rest of the story.

Horst Simon, a prominent computer scientist at Berkeley Lab, has renewed work around slotting low power chips into supercomputer class machines.

Simon and other researchers at Berkeley have partnered with low power chip designer Tensilica and Rambus to create a new class of computer that could show dramatic performance per watt gains and aid end computer buyers.

Ramboids will notice Mark Horowitz is involved in the Strawman Design Study.

Joe's links

Rambus Timeline compiled by longram7yrs.

Rambus chart posted by eastunder.

Judge Ronald M. Whyte's calendar.

In Re Translogic Technology, Inc. authored by Judge Rader. Joe notes: "Interesting Rader decision...very complex, but looks like Rader knows his stuff."