VR-Zone

 

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2008 by investor Stuart J. Steele, who claimed that Rambus had not correctly dated and accounted for stock option grants prior to 2006, with the majority of these occuring between 1998 and 2001.

 

The case would have went to court in March 2012, but Rambus decided to settle out of court for $10.85 million instead, suggesting it was not confident of winning.

 

 

This is an ironic twist of fate for the intellectual property company, which is usually on the other end of lawsuits. It has gained notoriety for its numerous lawsuits against a number of chipmakers, primarily over patents relating to memory technology like DRAM. These included Micron and Hynix, as well as high profile cases against Samsung and Nvidia, which have usually gone in favour of Rambus.

 

The payout today is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, but it will likely put a smile on the faces of those who believe Rambus is abusing its extensive patent collection to secure lucrative licensing deals.