Rambus and Broadcom Settle Patent Dispute

Rambus has said it has agreed a deal which will allow Broadcom to use its technology in its integrated circuit products.

The license agreement, which lasts for five years, also settles the outstanding patent disputes with Broadcom.

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The agreement lasts for five years, but information regarding which patents have been licensed and financial details were not disclosed. Rambus’ share price increased by eight percent following the announcement.

Broadcom makes processors for wireless networking standards including Wi-Fi and mobile phones and is a specialist provider of both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chips for mobile devices such as the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Earlier this month, it demonstrated the next generation of wireless networks, which it says will start to become available next year, while in September it acquired NetLogic Microsystems for £2.4 billion in an effort to expand its embedded systems offering.

Rambus makes most of its money licensing its technologies to companies for use in their products and has been engaged in a number of court battles with other manufacturers. Only last week it filed a new lawsuit against IBM after it was cleared of violating Rambus’ patents by the US patent office.

In November, the company lost a £2.5 billion lawsuit against Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor. Rambus filed the case in 2004, asserting that the two companies colluded in the 1990s to “constrain availability” of Rambus’ RDAM and keep its prices unnaturally high relative to its competition in an effort to eliminate the technology from the marketplace.