Slashdot Mirror
Appeals Court Upholds Rambus Fraud Ruling
LordArathres writes "The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia has refused to do away with Infinion Technologies' fraud charges against Rambus Inc. based on alleged failure to disclose its SDRAM patent applications to the JEDEC standards group. This action allows Infineon attorneys to depose Rambus officials and attorneys concerning legal discussions about disclosure of the SDRAM patent applications to JEDEC during the time when the company participated in panel discussions of SDRAM open standards. Client-attorney privileges do not apply in cases of possible fraud. The trial will officially begin April 17.
Story Here"
Incorrect. Under American legal ethics rules, lawyers don't have to report confessions. (Under the ethics rules in most American jurisdictions, a lawyer does a limited "duty to warn" when a client has told the lawyer that he intends to commit a crime involving serious bodily harm or damage to property (e.g., "I'm going to kill my ex-wife Friday," "I'm going to burn down the widget factory tonight"). But if the crime is already over, there's no duty to report the confession.)
Note, however, that a lawyer can't put a witness on the stand who the lawyer knows will commit perjury. So if a client confesses to a lawyer, the lawyer can't put the client up on the stand to say "I didn't do it," though that doesn't mean the lawyer can't plead "not guilty" on the client's behalf.
There is an exception to the attorney-client privilege called the "crime-fraud exception" which means that if a client uses his lawyer's services to commit a crime -- e.g., to commit a fraud, to pass a bad check to his creditors -- he has no privilege. But there's got to be some upfront showing that the client did in fact do that before a court will compel the client's attorney to testify.
The Rambus lawyers are potentially in a _lot_ more trouble than perjury and lost licenses. Infineon has alleged that Rambus engaged in a pattern of corrupt practices, in conspiracy with their lawyers and others ("Secret Squirrel" and "Deep Throat" - Rambus moles in JEDEC after Rambus resigned). These charges invoke Federal RICO statutes that have _very_ harsh penalties, as they were created and used to imprison and confiscate the ill-gotten assets of Mafia families and drug-running conspiracies.
What the Court just did was refuse to throw out the allegations that invoke the RICO jeopardies. If these charges stick, then not only will Rambus lose its patent claims, but its assets could be confiscated, and some Rambus executives and lawyers might be taking early retirement... in Federal penal institutions. Couldn't happen to nicer people...
[satire]Thats a dangerously unamerican thing to say! These gentlemen, these dreamers, these HEROS awoke with a dream -- a dream to subvert a standards body and profit from that deciet.
This is infact the american dream. Money for nothing.
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The way it works is that:
First, the person who wants to protect the documents has to show that they were in communication between an attorney and a client regarding legal advice. That establishes the existence of the privilege. The judge may or may not need to look at the documents ("in camera" inspection) to do this.
Second, the person who wants to break the privilege has to show why the privilege does not hold. The most common reason is that the document was shown to somebody who other than the attorney or client.
In this case that reason is the "crime-fraud" exception. This is what was used in the tobacco cases to get some of those documents. You have to make a showing that the client was using the attorney's advice to commit a crime or a fraud. That's a fairly hard showing without the document. You can't get the document before you make the showing required to get the document. However, the judge might look at it, and then decide you can have it.
NEW YORK -- Shares of Rambus today plummeted to a record low as investors reacted to an anonymous Slashdot poster's announcement that he would no longer be conducting business with them. "Screw Rambus," said the poster, "I'll NEVER BUY THEIR SHIT." Rambus spokespersons denied that the company would have difficulty meeting third quarter sales projections as a result, but analysts are clearly worried...
It is about time rambus got in trouble over it's silly patents. Moveover, their lawyers have become a liability now that they have to testify. I didn't thing things would get that good. :>
I am getting tired of companies playing the patent everything game; it is about time it blows up in someone's face.
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