Rambus, the technology patent-licensing company that's won a string of recent court successes, is getting hammered in the markets today after a Delaware judge ruled that the company had destroyed evidence that was critical to its lawsuit against Micron Technology.
"The very integrity of the litigation process has been impugned," wrote Judge Sue Robinson, who ruled that 12 of Rambus' patents are now unenforceable against Micron.
This is not the first time Rambus has been accused of shredding relevant documents back in the late 1990s. A Virginia judge issued a similar smackdown to Rambus in 2006.
But last year was a good one for Rambus: the Virginia order was overturned rendered moot on appeal, a San Jose jury found that Rambus did not use its patents nefariously, and then the company beat FTC charges against it on appeal. Rambus says it will appeal this most recent ruling, and points out that a Northern California judge who looked at the same facts found no problem.
Rambus stock is down close to 40%. MarketWatch and Reuters have good coverage so far.
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