Patent Law Practice Center

Rambus Loses Synchronous Memory Device Method in Reexam

Rambus Inc. was on the wrong end of a Federal Circuit decision recently when the CAFC, per Chief Judge Rader, upheld the decision of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences in a reexamination in which claim 18 of Rambus’s U.S. Patent No. 6,034,918 was found invalid as anticipated. See In re Rambus, Inc. The ‘918 patent relates to a method of controlling a memory device is disclosed wherein the memory device includes a plurality of memory cells.

Judge Rader, writing for a unanimous majority that also included Judge Linn and Judge Dyk, concluded that substantial evidence supported the PTO’s determination that claim 18 reads on the “memory module” in the prior art.