Micron loses motion to dismiss Rambus claims

Federal Judge Roderick McKelvie of the Wilmington, Del., District Court has denied the motion of Micron Technology for a summary judgment that the DRAM maker hadn't infringed Rambus Inc., a Micron spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

The ruling was made late last month. Micron was hoping to get a similar ruling that Infineon Technology AG got in a separate case last year in Richmond, Va., federal court that absolved the German chip maker from violating any Rambus synchronous memory patents.

The judge also deferred the start of Micron's trial against Rambus on the SDRAM patent claims until after a Federal Appeals court rules later this year on a Rambus appeal. Rambus filed the appeal of a jury verdict of fraud in the separate patent suit between Rambus and Infineon.

The Micron case in the Wilmington, Dec., court this week was also reassigned to a new judge, Sue Robinson, according to a docket entry. No reason was given for the change in jurists.