Micron Technology Disagrees with Jury Decision in Rambus Antitrust Trial

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Thursday , March 27, 2008 at 1328 hrs not infringed, and unenforceable. Recently, in connection with a reexamination of a key Rambus patent, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued a preliminary rejection of all the claims. In February 2008, as part of its reexamination process, the PTO preliminarily rejected all of the claims of Rambus' U.S. patent 6,715,020, one of the patents Rambus has asserted against Micron and other memory manufacturers. A group of other key Rambus patents are still pending reexamination in the PTO. Likewise, the European Patent Office (EPO) has revoked or substantially narrowed Rambus patents asserted against Micron in various European countries. As a result, Rambus' infringement claims have been dismissed in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.

In September 2000, Rambus filed patent infringement suits against Micron in London, England, Mannheim, Germany, Monza, Italy, and Paris, France alleging that Micron infringed Rambus European patent 525 068. On October 26, 2000, Micron filed an opposition to Rambus' European patent 525 068 in the EPO. In February 2004, the EPO permanently revoked the patent. As a result, the courts in London, England and Mannheim, Germany subsequently dismissed Rambus' patent infringement case and awarded costs to Micron. The Monza, Italy case previously was dismissed in May 24, 2001 when the court rejected Rambus' assertions of infringement. Dismissal of the Paris, France, case is still pending.

In August 2001, Rambus filed suit against Micron in Pavia, Italy, alleging that Micron infringed Rambus European patent 1 022 642. In September 2001, Micron filed an opposition to that patent in the EPO. In May 2005, the EPO Opposition Division preliminarily rejected all claims of the '642 patent. Rambus subsequently dismissed its patent infringement case against Micron in Pavia, Italy.

Micron Technology, Inc., is one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. Through its worldwide operations, Micron manufactures and markets DRAMs, NAND flash memory, CMOS image sensors, other semiconductor components, and memory modules for use in leading-edge computing, consumer, networking, and mobile products. Micron's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the MU symbol. To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc., visit www.micron.com.