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Rambus Files Antitrust Suit Against Memory Makers
bender647 writes "Forbes reports: 'Chip designer Rambus sued several major computer memory makers Wednesday, claiming they illegally conspired to limit production and raise prices in an effort to block widespread adoption of Rambus' technology.' Rambus believes that RDRAM was not the success it should have been because chip makers did not want to pay their royalties."
The real reason RAMBUS wasnt a success was because it was so fuggin expensive! Why pay extra money for a motherboard that supports it to pay 2x-4x the amount for the RAM as well? Nearly doubles the PC cost!
-Imidazole2
They say vote with your wallet. Until you do. Then they sue your ass.
They blame a conspiracy to raise prices, and then they say chipmakers didn't want to pay Rambus licensing. You can't have it both ways... it's obviously your own fault if your licensing is too expensive.
There's no reason not to expect RAM makers to retaliate after what Rambus did at that technology conference.
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People didn't adopt your technology because
1) It sucked.
2) It was highly overrated.
3) It was overpriced.
4) You are a deceitful bunch of motherfuckers who nobody trusts.
Rambus believes that RDRAM was not the success it should have been because chip makers did not want to pay their royalties.
So, this it is clearly the chipmakers fault then, huh?
Rambus should learn some basic business strategy. If someone comes out with a slightly less quality product, but sells it for a lot cheaper, that product will win. So, recognize the problem and lower your prices or significantly raise the benefits of paying them. In either case, don't resort to frivilous lawsuits if things don't go your way.
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
The only company violating anti-trust laws was RAMBUS! Entering into a standards committe and submitting technology while secretly patenting it is not only evil, it's illegal due to antitrust law.
And the reason their RAM cost so damn much is because of their royalty arrangements which most companies refused to enter into. And at the time RAMBUS was touting the profit margins on their products over DDR as a benefit and reason that companies should sell it!
Bastards.
OK, lets entertain the idea for a while. The article is stating that the reason the prices were higher is because the manufacturers illegally limited production. By limiting production the price of any one unit goes up. Its like buying a 6-pack of eggs or a case of eggs. With quantity the price goes down. Maybe this is true, maybe not. The userbase was certainly there. The industry backing was certaintly there. Intel had several chipsets out for P3 supporting the memory (i820 and others), PlayStation 2 uses the memory, etc... Guess we'll see what the court says. Please try and be objective.
JOhn
Campaign for Liberty
did it ever enter their tiny little heads that the reason that their wunder-patent didn't sell as well as their very carefully crafted market research said it should have, might just have something to do with the fact that the CONSUMER (not the producer, they just pass the cost on) didn't want to pay their licence fee (100% price markup) for a product which provided minimal benefit in certain limited cases and a large handicap in a great many (more commonly encountered) cases?
stupid corporation, hopefully they and all the other "IP" companies will go the way of the tyrannosaurus rex (i.e. screaming in agony as a giant fireball from space lands on their heads)
The difference between Theory and Practice is greater in Practice than in Theory.
It isn't simply that they decided not to use it, it's that they conspired with other companies in an illegal anti-competitive manner.. essentially saying, "I won't license with them if you don't." Or, at least that's what RAMBUS is claiming they did.
Just like any company can decide they want to cell a doohickey for $1000 more than everyone else, but if they conspire with the other doohickey vendors to all raise their price by $1000 so they can make nice profit, it's illegal.
But this one under the "duh" category.
Rambus believes that RDRAM was not the success it should have been because chip makers did not want to pay their royalties.
Duh. Two technologies, one free, the other having outrageous royalties... which would you pick? This proves that one does not have to be a genius to run a company.... And that royalties on technology is bad, m'kay?
This problem was evident from day one. The fact that they didn't go through the trouble to secure independent production capacity to keep the other manufacturers honest just goes to show that they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. Doing so would have slimmed RDRAM profit margins but definitely insured that lack of supply doesn't kill their product.
It's a case of greed ruining their business model.
I'm surprised that Intel bought into this mess. Just goes to show that for all their glitz, Intel can be a bunch of geeks sometimes.
Politicus