Federal Trade Commission Against Rambus

Rambus, a well known company for having developped an Intel hardware-dedicated RAM module, has been the target of a recent order issued by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While Intel dropped adoption of Rambus memory, Rambus continues to collect money thanks to its patent portfolio as well as numerous legal action launched against all RAM module and controller manufacturers. Due to this action, the FTC issued:

The Commission has issued an Order setting the maximum royalty rate that Rambus can collect on sales made of certain JEDEC-compliant parts after the Order becomes effective, as follows: 0.25% for SDRAM products; 0.5% for DDR SDRAM products; 0.5% for SDRAM memory controllers or other non-memory chip components; and 1.0% for DDR SDRAM memory controllers or other non-memory chip components. The Commission has further provided in its Order that these maximum rates will be in effect for three years, after which time the maximum rates will be 0%. The Order also mandates that Rambus offer a license for these products on terms set by the Commission, including a further cap on the non-memory rates that can be sought on broader systems.
The Commission determined that its remedy would not apply to DDR2 SDRAM or other post-DDR JEDEC standards.

The story of Rambus is not over, as DDR2 and GDDR2 are not included in the remedy, so the company will keep asking royalties, as DDR2 is now the new memory standard.