Rambus’ long litigation saga has been prolonged after a US Appeals Court said the company had destroyed documents relevant to its patent infringement lawsuits against Hynix and Micron.
"It is undisputed that Rambus destroyed between 9,000 and 18,000 pounds of documents in 300 boxes," said the court’s judgment.
The decision means that a $397m judgment against Hynix is invalidated pro tem, and that the lawsuit brought against Micron could be lost.
The court’s ruling does not, however, bring an end to the Micron lawsuit.
Although the Appeals court rules that Rambus had destroyed documents, it also ruled that a lower court had to decide whether the destruction was sufficiently serious to terminate the Micron lawsuit.
So the lawsuits will continue.
It transpires that Rambus holds ‘Shred Days’ in which employees are asked to help shred documents while looking for, and retaining, documents which support its claims.