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Judge allows Rambus racketeering allegations

Splosh! Bottom falls out of RMBS stock

There was painful news for Rambus shareholders yesterday after the judge in the case said Infineon lawyers could introduce allegations of criminal activity in an up-and-coming jury trial that originally focused on alleged patent infringements.

Dow Jones, picking up on earlier stories from The Register and Electronic News, said Judge Robert E. Payne had decided allegations of criminal misconduct could be discussed, despite an attempt by Rambus to prevent that discussion.

Meanwhile, Rambus' share price plunged by nearly 32 per cent yesterday, to close on Wall Street at $24.09 after news reports and warnings from brokers caused over 20 million shares to be traded in a single day.

The average number of shares traded in RMBS a day amounts to around 3.5 million.

The slide started yesterday morning, after a report in Electronic News suggested that a judge had issued a ruling limiting Rambus' alleged patent infringement case against Infineon over DDR and SDRAM technology.

According to CBS Marketwatch (of whom more, anon), SG Cowen also issued a note to its clients about that ruling.

But, according to Rambus representatives contacted by The Register, no such ruling has been made. A brief statement from Rambus said: "We've seen no ruling out of the court yet."

Meanwhile, Ramboids* all across the world responded to the fall in price of their favourite share by flaming both this organ and Electronic News.

Perhaps somewhat unwisely, Shawn Langlois of CBS Marketwatch repeated some of these flames in his own piece called March Madness, Rambus Style.

Quoting one flamer, Langlois said: "The news source [Electronics News] is paid marketing and if you search out the news source you will find they hold fake seminars and sell advertising and 'editorial' expertise. The 'news story' is crap plain and simple, paid for crap. And backing it up with the Register is like getting the National Inquirer to let us in on Roseanne's real life story."

We're not sure where, in the pecking order, that puts Dow Jones or the WSJ. Yesterday, Michael Buettner of DJ wrote a story which followed up both our and Electronic News' stories.

Electronic News is part of the rather well respected technology group that also publishes The Microprocessor Report, that is, Cahners. And The Reg is part of Szechuan Publishing International, of course, and so an even tougher nut to crack.

EN appears to substantially stand by its earlier story, according to this Bloomberg tale.

The ENstory has changed, however. The original had a reference and a link to The Register concerning crime-fraud allegations which has now been edited out, and Fyffe, the reporter, is maintaining that his original story limiting the scope of Rambus arguments, is essentially true. ®

* Register Factoid 111
There are some fine, very fine people who buy and sell Rambus shares. But there is also a splenetic and vitriolic version, producing some of the Finest Flames of the Week we've ever seen fit to print. And it is these who are Ramboid.

See Also

Racketeer Act enters Rambus Infineon discussion
Crime Fraud Element enters Rambus case
Register becomes part of Rambus trial

External Link

Rambus Motion on Summary Judgment of Rico Charges Denied WSJ/Dow Jones, requires subscription.

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