By Laird HarrisonSAN FRANCISCO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - In its fourth week of
deliberations, the jury in Rambus Inc’s $4 billion
antitrust lawsuit against Micron and Hynix
has yet to reach a verdict — and is reviewing more testimony
from the trial.The request to hear a transcript of witness testimony on
Wednesday was not accompanied by any further information about
when jurors in the California state court trial might render a
verdict.Over the course of a trial that lasted more than three
months, Rambus accused Idaho-based Micron and South Korea-based
Hynix of colluding to fix prices of memory chips used in
personal computers and preventing Rambus’s technology from
becoming widely used. Rambus claims it lost billions of dollars
in business.Micron and Hynix countered that Rambus’s chip technology
was plagued by technical problems and that Rambus blames
competitors for its own failure.Jurors on Wednesday asked to review the testimony of
Michael Sadler, chief sales executive for Micron. In video
testimony, he said he had met with Hynix representatives to
discuss setting the prices of microchips, and agreed with a
Rambus attorney that the conversation was “improper.”The jury has already listened to one readback of Sadler’s
testimony, by a court reporter. It lasted more than an hour.At its request, the jury has also listened to testimony by
four other witnesses, all of them former executives at Hynix,
Micron and their clients.Over the course of four weeks, the jury has deliberated on
11 days. On Tuesday it expanded its schedule from five hours
per day to seven hours per day.Any antitrust damages awarded to Rambus could be instantly
tripled under California law. Rambus is also seeking punitive
damages.Such an award could dramatically change the fortunes of
Rambus, which was worth $1.46 billion in stock market value on
Wednesday. Rambus shares closed at $15.68 on Wednesday, up
nearly 2 percent.The company’s shares often gyrate in tandem with major
court decisions.The case in Superior Court of the State of California,
County of San Francisco is Rambus Inc. v. Micron Technology
Inc. et al, 04-431105.
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