Rambus Responds to FTC Administrative Complaint

LOS ALTOS, Calif., June 19, 2002 - Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) today responded to the Federal Trade Commission's filing of an administrative complaint relating to Rambus' 1992-1995 participation in an industry standard setting committee, the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council ("JEDEC").

The FTC's complaint stems from the same facts and the same core allegations as are currently being litigated in multiple private lawsuits, including the Infineon case, tried last year in Virginia, for which an appeal was heard before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 3, 2002. Two United States District Courts - those hearing the Micron and Hynix cases - have delayed their cases pending resolution of the Infineon appeals.

"These cases all derive from the same facts. They all involve the same core issue of whether Rambus complied with JEDEC rules, which may or may not have shifted over time, and appropriately disclosed its patent interests in the 1992-1995 time frame," stated John Danforth, senior vice president and general counsel for Rambus Inc. "Given that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is currently scrutinizing this matter, we are somewhat surprised to see this complaint by the FTC."

Rambus first filed a patent application for its revolutionary memory technology in 1990 and proceeded to teach the industry how to apply that technology, while protected by nondisclosure agreements. By invitation, Rambus later joined a JEDEC committee that was developing a DRAM standard. Today, Rambus' industry-leading chip-to-chip interface technology can be found in dozens of products including personal computers, servers, workstations, video game consoles, high-definition TVs, set-top boxes and networking routers and switches.

"We believe we have established that Rambus fully complied with JEDEC's disclosure policy and that Rambus had no undisclosed patents, or even applications, during the relevant time period that read on any proposed JEDEC standard," explained Danforth. "At the end of the day, we believe that the FTC process, either at the administrative level or on appeal, will conclude that our actions were entirely appropriate and lawful."

About Rambus Inc.

Rambus is the leading developer and marketer of breakthrough chip-to-chip interface technology, products and solutions to the electronics industry. The company licenses its technology in the form of ASIC cells that are incorporated into high-performance memory and logic chips by 25 of the world's top semiconductor makers. The company's ASIC cells and system-level solutions are incorporated into hundreds of unique electronic products.
 
 

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