Rambus Won't Pay Fine in E.U. Settlement

LOS ALTOS, Calif (TheStreet) - Rambus(RMBS) said Wednesday it won't pay a fine in an antitrust settlement with European Union regulators.

E.U. regulators dropped the investigation into Rambus after the company pledged to cap royalty fees for DRAM memory chip patents.

"We are pleased to have this matter closed with the commission. Following a long and detailed examination of the facts, the commission did not find that Rambus violated the law, nor did it impose any fine," said Thomas Lavelle, senior vice president and general counsel at Rambus, in a statement Wednesday. "For our part, we agree to offer licenses at attractive rates for customers to use our patented innovations in computing and electronics products for consumers worldwide."

Rambus pledged not to charge any royalties for SDR and DDR chip standards and to bring fees for newer versions of DDR down to 1.5% from 3.5% for five years.

The European Commission in 2007 charged Rambus with monopoly abuse, alleging that the company set "unreasonable" royalties for DRAM patents fraudulently set as industry standards.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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