Hynix says settlement with Rambus on the table

By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's second-largest
memory chip maker, said Thursday its decade-long legal battle with Rambus Inc.
over chip technology is "open to settlement" outside of court.
The remark by an official at the South Korean company comes a day after Samsung
Electronics Co., its larger rival, settled suits with Rambus in a new license
deal that could end up costing the tech giant US$900 million won over the next
five years.
"All legal claims are open to settlement," the Hynix official said on condition
of anonymity.
In March, a U.S. court ruled in favor of Rambus in a case alleging that Hynix
infringed on 15 Rambus patents related to dynamic random access memory chip
technology.
The court ordered Hynix to pay $397 million in compensation and additional
royalties to the Los Altos, California-based technology licensing company. Hynix
lodged an appeal in April.
Hynix executives declined to comment on the issue during a conference call with
investors.
"We don't think this is the time for us to give you our intentions," said James
Kim, vice president of investor relations.
"We appealed to the second high court for the court process and we are simply
waiting for the result of the progress from that," he added.
Also Thursday, Hynix reported two straight profitable quarters, logging 657
billion won (US$578 million) between October-December, compared with a net loss
of 1.69 trillion won in the same period a year ago.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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