Commission Approves Appointment of Compliance Officer in Matter of Rambus Incorporated

FTC approval of appointment of compliance officer in matter of Rambus Inc.: By a vote of 5-0, the Commission has approved an application to appoint a compliance officer in the matter of Rambus Incorporated. In an application submitted on July 11, 2007, Rambus requested the Commission approve Chirag R. Asaravala as its compliance officer. The Commission gave its approval in a letter dated August 29, 2007, to Rambus’s counsel.

Pursuant to an FTC final order announced on February 5, 2007, Rambus is required to employ a Commission-approved compliance officer who will be charged with ensuring that Rambus does not make misrepresentations and omissions to standard setting organizations. The FTC issued the final order after Rambus unlawfully established monopoly power in certain markets for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) computer chip technology by inducing a standard setting organization, through misrepresentations and omissions, to incorporate Rambus’s technologies into standards enacted by that organization. The order is designed to remedy the effects of those unlawful monopolies and to prevent Rambus from again acquiring unlawful monopoly power through similar means.

On April 4, 2007, Rambus filed an appeal of the FTC’s final order with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The appeal is pending. (FTC Docket No. 9302; the staff contact is Daniel P. Ducore, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2526; see press release dated February 5, 2007.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.