Hynix Semiconductor Inc. v. Rambus Inc.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW ON UNCLEAN HANDS DEFENSE

Hynix’s unclean hands defense to Ram-bus’s patent infringement claims was tried before the court on October 17-19 and October 24-November 1, 2005. The essential issues were (1) whether Rambus adopted a document retention plan in or der to destroy documents in advance of a planned litigation campaign against DRAM manufacturers and (2) whether in light of any such conduct, the court should dismiss Rambus’s patent claims against Hynix as a sanction for unclean hands. The court now issues its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.

I.FINDINGS OF FACT

A. The Current Litigation

1. On August 29, 2000, plaintiffs Hynix Semiconductor America, Inc., Hynix Semiconductor, Inc., Hynix Semiconductor U.K., Ltd., and Hynix Semiconductor Deutschland, GmbH (collectively “Hy-nix”) filed a complaint, later amended, against Rambus Inc. (“Rambus”) that in part sought a declaratory judgment of non-infringement, invalidity, and unen-forceability of eleven Rambus patents. In February 2001, Rambus filed counterclaims asserting that Hynix infringed those eleven patents. Hynix subsequently answered the counterclaims and asserted various…