PS3 XDR supply at stake?

[hugo]

Rambus is proceeding to sue Samsung over the alleged infringement of DDR2 memory, and GDDR2 and GDDR3 graphics memory.

http://www.the-inquirer.com/?article=23767

How will it affect the XDR memory production?

 

[Carl B]

Here's the answer:

LINK

...At the moment though, Rambus is indicating that Samsung is in the clear as far as it's production and license of XDR and RDRAM, two memory types that respectively are of crucial importance to Sony for use in production of their upcoming Playstation 3 and the continuing production of the ever popular Playstation 2.

 

[jvd]

I dunno but if i was samsung i would drop rambus ram production or never start it . From what i remember about hte law suits a few years ago was that it was all just bull

 

[Tsmit42]

I dunno but if i was samsung i would drop rambus ram production or never start it . From what i remember about hte law suits a few years ago was that it was all just bull

And lose tons of money by not being in the ps3? Money they would need to pay back rambus if they lose the suit.

 

[hugo]

xboxdetroya,that's from Rambus's point of view.If Samsung was to go on strike I bet the PS3 will take a major blow of not delivering enough units on launch target.Rambus is playing a dangerous game at the wrong time.

 

[jvd]

Rather drop production of rambus's main source of income and try to bankrupt them by tieing the case up in courts .

All samsung will do is end up paying rambus twice if they continue making ram for them

 

[Tsmit42]

xboxdetroya,that's from Rambus's point of view.If Samsung was to go on strike I bet the PS3 will take a major blow of not delivering enough units on launch target.Rambus is playing a dangerous game at the wrong time.

Don't Samsung already have a deal with Sony for the ps3? If they don't produce the chips they might get another law suit.

 

[hugo]

I am curious why Rambus would want to bring this up against Samsung.They are one of the largest RAM maker in the world so getting their support is essential to market their product.Unless they can't get over after losing the DDR vs RDRAM war the last time.

 

[jvd]

I don't know , i haven't heard anything about samsung supplying the xdr , i thought they were suppling the gdr

 

[Carl B]

xboxdetroya,that's from Rambus's point of view.If Samsung was to go on strike I bet the PS3 will take a major blow of not delivering enough units on launch target.Rambus is playing a dangerous game at the wrong time.

Yes, they could do that I suppose - but playing punitive revenge games like that can ruin your credibility fairly quickly in the industry, and if XDR ever were to become mainstream at all, basically Samsung would have assured themselves that no one buys from them by breaking their commitment.

Anything's possible - but what you're suggesting is very unlikely.

 

[Carl B]

I don't know , i haven't heard anything about samsung supplying the xdr , i thought they were suppling the gdr

Samsung is indeed supplying XDR to Sony for PS3.

 

[Acert93]

xboxdetroya,that's from Rambus's point of view.If Samsung was to go on strike I bet the PS3 will take a major blow of not delivering enough units on launch target.Rambus is playing a dangerous game at the wrong time.

I disagree.

Great "gamemanship" from Rambus.

They already got big paydays from their other lawsuits. Whether their patent schemes are ethical is questionable, but on legal grounds they have done VERY WELL.

So Rambus left Samsung for last. Being the biggest that makes sense. But there is more than that. Samsung is providing XDR for the PS3. It is far to late for Sony to change their design--CELL needs XDR. So the "killer app" for XDR is set. No turning back now.

So someone needs to make XDR. Samsung already has licensed XDR, so they already have an investment, and seeing as Sony needs XDR they will continue going with it.

So Sony and Samsung were already on hook. Samsung turning their back on XDR would only hurt Sony by making a shortage of XDR. Someone would pick up XDR to make it for the PS3 which looks to ship at least 80M units. So Samsung might as well make some money off of XDR which they already have a license for--even if Rambus is going to sue them.

Rambus has excellent timing for this type of lawsuit. BUT I do consider it nasty big business... although after the DRAM makers admitting that they price fixed so they could screw Rambus makes me feel less sympathetic toward any of them.

Cut throat business, memory making is.

 

[Brimstone]

Kind of ironic if Samsung is provoding the GDDR-3 for the PS3 also. The royalties Samsung pays to Rambus for XDR would help pay for the lawyers trying to collect royalties for the GDDR they are also providing.


I smell a potential Penny Arcade in this story.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What are they suing Samsung over? Use of RDRAM tech in DDR? Or price fixing of RDRAM to promote DDR takeup?

 

[Carl B]

Rambus has a number of patents it has claimed as being infringed. It's not that there is some specific thing Samsung did that is getting them sued, it's just Rambus is accusig them of being in general violation. Interface and memory controller patents I believe are the primary ones, but who knows - there are a ton of them Rambus holds that they could choose from.

 

[Acert93]

What are they suing Samsung over? Use of RDRAM tech in DDR? Or price fixing of RDRAM to promote DDR takeup?

It looks like Rambus is sueing Samsung over DDR2, GDDR2, and GDDR3:

Rambus continued its patent infringement litigation against memory manufacturers claiming that Samsung uses its patented technologies in DDR2 memory modules and GDDR2 and GDDR3 graphics memory devices.

In a separate suit, Rambus said Samsung also infringes on patents in its SDRAM and DDR DRAM memory types as well as controllers that work with those memory types.

http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050607_122609.html

 

[Brimstone]

What are they suing Samsung over? Use of RDRAM tech in DDR? Or price fixing of RDRAM to promote DDR takeup?

It's not just Samsung, it's GDDR-3, DDR-2, and so on. They claim those memory technologies infringe on their patents, so they want royalties for them.

 

[jvd]

well hopefully someone designs ram that doesn't infringe on any patents of rambus so we don't have to see this crap anymore

 

[Carl B]

I don't think that will be happening for many many years though jvd - whatever failings this company might otherwise have, the fact is they are a genius of memory design, and their IP tentacles spread everywhere.

 

[jvd]

I don't think that will be happening for many many years though jvd - whatever failings this company might otherwise have, the fact is they are a genius of memory design, and their IP tentacles spread everywhere.

how long before the patents expire ? haha