Rambus destroyed documents, but wins case

U.S. technology licensing firm Rambus destroyed documents pertinent to a patent lawsuit before going to trial, a federal judge said. Judge Ronald Whyte said the documents were destroyed "willfully," as the company was aware it was likely headed to court, although the judge did not say Rambus had illegally destroyed evidence, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The judge's ruling in the case has not been fully disclosed, but Rambus said Sunday it had won an appeal filed by South Korean firm SK Hynix. Rambus had accused SK Hynix of infringing on a patent for technology that speeds up dynamic random-access memory chips or DRAMs. SK Hynix said the judge ordered the two companies to agree to a "reasonable and non-discriminatory" amount of royalties to be paid by SK Hynix. The case was originally filed in 2000. In 2009, a jury ruled against SK Hynix and ordered the company to pay Rambus $397 million.