This is the first article I have seen that reveals the 4.32 Billion Dollar damages amount in the RDRAM Joint Boycott and Price Fixing Case in San Francisco Superior Court. Because this is a Cartwright Act Case, the juries damage award is automatically trebled, so Samsung, Hynix and Micron are facing joint and several damages in excess of 13 Billion Dollars
The amount of evidence that Rambus has against the DRAM manufacturers has been bolstered by the US DOJ case against the Memory Manufacturers. Millions of documents have been turned over to Rambus from DOJ's investigation. When the manufacturers settled with the DOJ and paid over 700 Million in fines, they all had to sign plea agreements (except Micron who received amnesty). Those plea agreements spell out in great detail that the price of DRAM (including Rambus DRAM or RDRAM) was manipulated.
The fact that the price fixing took place is already established, and all Rambus has to do is show they were damaged. Since this scheme by the manufacturers prevented RDRAM from becoming the standard for Intel, Rambus should have no trouble showing the damages exceeded 4 Billion dollars. Here is just one document that reveals a small fraction of the evidence Rambus has accumulated.
On January 9th, Judge Sue Robinson of the Delaware District Court issued a ruling that Rambus was guilty of spoliating documents. Her remedy for this ruling was to rule Rambus patents unenforceable against Micron. On March 11th, Rambus filed a notice of appeal of this ruling to the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit (CAFC). This same spoliation issue was considered by Judge Ronald Whyte of the Northern District of California, who ruled that Rambus was not guilty of destroying any material documents. Here is Judge Whyte’s ruling which completely exonerated Rambus of any wrongdoing. It is likely that these cases will be combined at the Federal Circuit
Judge Robinson has had 32 of her cases appealed to the CAFC. Of those, 17 were reversed or vacated in whole or in part. Judge Whyte has only had four cases appealed to the CAFC. Of these he had 3 cases affirmed and 1 case reversed (this was a non technical reversal on a jurisdictional issue). Furthermore, Judge Robinson’s remedy of rendering Rambus’ patent rights unenforceable is a ruling that goes against established case law in the Aptix case. The Aptix ruling (see below) stated that unclean hands are not justification to make the patents unenforceable.
The district court, however, abused its discretion in rendering the patent unenforceable for unclean hands.While unclean hands based on litigation misconduct may serve as a basis for sanctioning the litigant engaging in such conduct, it does not infect, or even affect, the original grant of the property right. Unclean hands based on litigation misconduct differs from inequitable conduct in the procurement of the patent right because the latter taints the property right itself and provides a basis for rendering the patent unenforceable by any party. The district court abused its discretion by extending the sanction for litigation misconduct beyond Aptix - the party who engaged in unclean hands - and rendering the property right unenforceable.
Google Buys Motorola for $12.5 Billion: What Interdigital Is Now Worth [View article]
One item I forgot to mention....Motorola has only 16 declared essential patents on LTE, while Interdigital has 437 (as of Sept. 2010). See page 3 of 6 of the link below.
As of right now, the ITC trial is scheduled to start on August 31st and the antitrust price fixing case against the cartel is scheduled to start in San Francisco on Sept. 28th. I think the cartel is out of delay tactics once the last two writs are denied by the CA appellate court, which I expect within the next few weeks (could be any day).
NJ
On Jul 17 08:30 AM JCC wrote:
> Nuke John - I would appreciate it if you would provide us with commentary > on the next steps for Rambus. > > Are they still on tract to start the case against Nvidia, Hewlett > Packard and about ten others still scheduled to start in late August > and the antitrust case against Samsung, Hynix and Micron (seekingalpha.com/symbo...) > is scheduled to start in late September. > > These court actions can be a treacherous situation, and you knowledge > of the subject is helpful.
Star Scientific Is On A Run: Who's Buying And Who's Selling? [View article]
Justhinkin, that was a great response.
Most people don't really appreciate the point you made (that there was not enough evidence in the record for the CAFC to overturn the jury verdict on noninfringement). IMHO, after closely follow the Maryland trial (I had a friend there giving me daily reports), I think it was apparent that Judge Garbis did now allow most of Star's evidence and he severely limited Star's expert witness testimony with his motion in limine rulings.
But, as we know....that case was only for the 2001 and 2002 tobacco growing seasons. From 2003 going forward, RJR can't hide behind the Peele patents any longer....the CAFC stuck a fork in them.
The thing that I don't think most people appreciate is the fact that Star has had to prepare for future litigation with these big tobacco companies. To do that, I would be surprised if they have not used certified laboratories to measure TSNA levels on every major cigarette brand from RJR, PM, and Lorillard for the past 10 years. Can you imagine the increased liability in the lawsuits that these big tobacco companies would be facing in tort cases when those TSNA levels come out in court testimony. The big tobacco companies knew that TSNA's in their cigarettes were killing people, yet they opted not to license Star's patents and lower the TSNA's as low as possible (even down to below detectable levels).
Star has all these guys by the cohones. The smart company will settle first and start making tobacco products with TSNA levels Below Detectable Limits. JMHO
Star Scientific Is On A Run: Who's Buying And Who's Selling? [View article]
As I stated early in the article, this is my best guess as to who is buying and who is selling. I have followed this stock for > 9 years, and have taken the Anatabloc nutraceutical supplement since it came on the market last summer, so I feel qualified to offer this opinion. Where possible, I have tried to provide links, but there are some opinions I have made that are impossible to offer links. For example, I am assuming that the SR. PGA Tour professionals are buying the stock. How did I arrive at that opinion? Simple, I know that Freddie Couples uses it and swears by it, and I know that at an event earlier this year Star Scientific gave out free samples to all the players in the field, and I know of several players who are now taking it. So, I am assuming they are buying the stock....like most of us who are using Anatabloc and seeing miraculous benefits.
Interdigital: A Diamond in the Rough [View article]
Also, an ITC case of similar complexity was recently decided 3 weeks after oral arguments. That case was Lucky Litter v. ITC (case #2009-1470) and it was primarily a claims construction case.
I think all three of these judges recognize that there are over a dozen major companies around the world (Apple, RIM, Samsung, LG, Casio/Hitachi, NEC, HTC, Panasonic, Toshiba, Kyocera, Pantech, etc that are already paying IDCC on the exact same patents in suit. I think they want to get the ruling out and get on with other rulings.
Rambus: The Next Big Litigation Play [View article]
In my opinion, Rambus withdrew these claims for expediency and to streamline the case against Nvidia, HP and others. This case is scheduled for trial starting August 31st, and there were originally nine patents in the case. Four of those nine patents have been withdrawn. Obviously when Rambus withdrew some patents, they kept the ones they thought were stronger and easier to win on. We have yet to see the final claims construction from the ALJ, but we have seen the claims construction recommendations from the ITC staff. The staff agreed with Rambus' proposed claims construction on about 90% of the terms. Perhaps, the patent that were withdrwan were withdrwn because they related to the 10% of the claims terminology where the staff didn't agree with Rambus.
Here is a list of patents in the case.
7,177,998 7,210,016 6,470,405 6,591,353
7,287,109 7,287,119 (withdrawn)
7,330,952 (withdrawn) 7,330,953 (withdrawn)
7,360,050 (withdrawn)
On Jun 08 09:57 PM JosephN wrote:
> Some of the patent claims against Nvidia were withdrawn today at > RMBS request. I would like to hear Nuke John's take on this action. > > > (*Long NVDA)
Star Scientific Is On A Run: Who's Buying And Who's Selling? [View article]
At the present time, with the fact that Anatabloc is currently >85% of Star's revenue (and is growing rapidly), it is a huge misconception to classify CIGX as a tobacco company. They should be a looked at as a biotech/pharma company. When they reach profitability next quarter, the market should be placing a biotech/pharma PE on their stock.
Of course, these statistics don't include the naked short shares (which could be almost as large as the reported short interest). It's not difficult to imagine the time when every GNC store is selling 1-2 bottles a day (instead of 3-4 bottles a week). In fact, I think we will be at that level sometime in early Q3. When people start doing research and start reporting how fast GNC's Anatabloc sales are ramping, the shorts will have to try to get out of their positions.
While I am not predicting a settlement with a big tobacco company in the next few weeks (which could bring 3-8 cents per pack of cigarettes)....it is definitely something that could happen in the next few months (we know mandated mediation/settlement talks are scheduled and it was inferred in Star's Press Release that talks are ongoing). How can anyone possibly want to stay short this stock?
Top 10 Reasons Star Scientific Is Headed Higher [View article]
Yes, I have interacted with several stores (even recently) that were unaware of Anatabloc. Of course, when I visit a store that is unaware of Anatabloc, I tell them my experience with it (see link below), and they immediately try to order it.
I have now personally visited over 30 stores in the last three months, and I have called another 30-40. Of those stores, I'd say 75% are aware of it and either have it on their shelves (or were sold out and awaiting new stock). My personal visits have mostly been to store locations in Malls, so I think my representative sample list is skewed high (because I think the Mall stores were among the first to get Anatabloc). At this point I would say that over 75% of the Mall locations have Anatabloc in stock. I was trying to be conservative in my estimates of the number of stores that have Anatabloc. I have been to GNC stores in AZ, FL, GA, SC, NC, TN, VA, DC, MD, DE, PA, KY, OH and NY.
Back in March, it was rare that a store (even a big Mall store) had even heard of Anatabloc. Nobody knew what it was or even if they had heard of it, they didn't know much about it. In the last 2 months that has changed. Now it is rare that I visit a store that hasn't heard of it, but that did happen yesterday in a store in TN. When I told the store manager what it did and how it had helped me, he got online and started checking on it and he took a lot of notes. When I left, he told me "you have made my day".
I have recently been in two stores where the Sales Associate was taking the GNC online training class on Anatabloc, so I know there is a major push to educate GNC personnel and to sell it. Back in March, it was common for a big store to only get 2 - 6 bottles in their first shipment, and it wasn't selling all that well (a bottle every 1 or two weeks). In the last 2-3 weeks, I haven't been in a store that was carrying it that hasn't told me it was selling well. It is difficult to pin them down on how many bottles they have sold (in many cases I don't think the sales associate really even knows). But I have been to a couple of stores in Manhattan a few weeks ago that was selling 2 or 3 bottles per day (if you believe the sales associate). I will be back in NY and NJ next week, and will try to check again.
I was in Roanoke, VA last week. They have three GNC stores. They had two stores that were carrying it and the third had never heard of it. One store was sold out and was "expecting a shipment any day" , and one store had three bottles of the six bottles they had gotten the week before. I need to do a better job of collecting and assimilating the data when I travel and maybe start a spreadsheet for stores I have visited or called. I need to take more notes when I leave the store so I can post my observations.
It is my conservative estimate that over 50% of GNC stores in the US now have Anatabloc. The last time I checked their web site, they had over 5000 stores in the US, so I am guessing about 2500 stores now have it. Of the stores that have it, some of the major market stores are now selling over 20 bottles per week (if you believe the clerk), but I believe most are selling about 3-4 bottles per week. Some are still probably only selling 1-2 bottles per week. I need to gather more data and take better notes, but my off the cuff guess is that the average is now between 3 and 4 bottles per week per store. This research is pretty easy to do, but I will advise you to do it in person. You can get a lot more information with an in-store visit than you can get over the phone.
I encourage all Anatabloc Users (and CIGX investors) to visit the local GNC stores as often as possible and share your experiences about the benefits of Anatabloc with the GNC personnel. While in the store, gather as much research as possible on how well it is selling.
A Comparison in Fundamental Value: InterDigital and Qualcomm [View article]
About 2 weeks ago, ZTE, a major Chinese manufacturer in the mobile space, put out their analysis of essential patents for LTE. ZTE is not a small player, although many in the US may not have heard of them. According to their company description... "ZTE is a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions with the most comprehensive product range covering virtually every sector of the wireline, wireless, service and terminals markets. The company delivers innovative, custom-made products and services to over 500 operators in more than 140 countries".
ZTE believes that IDCC has 24% of the essential patents, and Qualcomm has 13%. Here's the pie chart they had in their article that shows each companies "essential IP" for LTE.
When the evidence is presented in the Price Fixing Antitrust case in San Francisco, you will see the truth.
Rambus has made a lot of stupid decisions, but they weren't crooked. They just want to get paid for their IP, which revolutionized an industry.
On Aug 25 12:50 AM bolshaya_kartina wrote:
> Got to put it to you Rambus-ees. Memory cartel...that's such a cute > way to describe an industry that's so fiercely competitive that they've > been in a perpetual arms race that's nearly bankrupted every member > save one. They did such a good job of manipulating prices--in the > alleged Rambus-crushing timeframe, they were all losing money--which > is more typical than not, actually. I suppose that was part of the > strategy...still must be. They want Rambus to lose SO BAD that they'll > drive themselves to extinction. Rambus can do no evil. Rambus played > fair all along. Rambus is not a patent troll, for there's no such > thing. Go Rambus!
2009: Rambus' Year to Shine [View article]
The amount of evidence that Rambus has against the DRAM manufacturers has been bolstered by the US DOJ case against the Memory Manufacturers. Millions of documents have been turned over to Rambus from DOJ's investigation. When the manufacturers settled with the DOJ and paid over 700 Million in fines, they all had to sign plea agreements (except Micron who received amnesty). Those plea agreements spell out in great detail that the price of DRAM (including Rambus DRAM or RDRAM) was manipulated.
The fact that the price fixing took place is already established, and all Rambus has to do is show they were damaged. Since this scheme by the manufacturers prevented RDRAM from becoming the standard for Intel, Rambus should have no trouble showing the damages exceeded 4 Billion dollars. Here is just one document that reveals a small fraction of the evidence Rambus has accumulated.
rambus.org/legal/antit...
NukeJohn
Rambus Steams Ahead [View article]
investor.rambus.com/do...
Judge Robinson has had 32 of her cases appealed to the CAFC. Of those, 17 were reversed or vacated in whole or in part. Judge Whyte has only had four cases appealed to the CAFC. Of these he had 3 cases affirmed and 1 case reversed (this was a non technical reversal on a jurisdictional issue). Furthermore, Judge Robinson’s remedy of rendering Rambus’ patent rights unenforceable is a ruling that goes against established case law in the Aptix case. The Aptix ruling (see below) stated that unclean hands are not justification to make the patents unenforceable.
www.ll.georgetown.edu/...
excerpt.....
The district court, however, abused its discretion in rendering the patent unenforceable for unclean hands.While unclean hands based on litigation misconduct may serve as a basis for sanctioning the litigant engaging in such conduct, it does not infect, or even affect, the original grant of the property right. Unclean hands based on litigation misconduct differs from inequitable conduct in the procurement of the patent right because the latter taints the property right itself and provides a basis for rendering the patent unenforceable by any party. The district court abused its discretion by extending the sanction for litigation misconduct beyond Aptix - the party who engaged in unclean hands - and rendering the property right unenforceable.
Google Buys Motorola for $12.5 Billion: What Interdigital Is Now Worth [View article]
www.lesi.org/images/ar...
Rambus: Legal Battles Continue [View article]
NJ
On Jul 17 08:30 AM JCC wrote:
> Nuke John - I would appreciate it if you would provide us with commentary
> on the next steps for Rambus.
>
> Are they still on tract to start the case against Nvidia, Hewlett
> Packard and about ten others still scheduled to start in late August
> and the antitrust case against Samsung, Hynix and Micron (seekingalpha.com/symbo...)
> is scheduled to start in late September.
>
> These court actions can be a treacherous situation, and you knowledge
> of the subject is helpful.
Star Scientific Is On A Run: Who's Buying And Who's Selling? [View article]
Most people don't really appreciate the point you made (that there was not enough evidence in the record for the CAFC to overturn the jury verdict on noninfringement). IMHO, after closely follow the Maryland trial (I had a friend there giving me daily reports), I think it was apparent that Judge Garbis did now allow most of Star's evidence and he severely limited Star's expert witness testimony with his motion in limine rulings.
But, as we know....that case was only for the 2001 and 2002 tobacco growing seasons. From 2003 going forward, RJR can't hide behind the Peele patents any longer....the CAFC stuck a fork in them.
The thing that I don't think most people appreciate is the fact that Star has had to prepare for future litigation with these big tobacco companies. To do that, I would be surprised if they have not used certified laboratories to measure TSNA levels on every major cigarette brand from RJR, PM, and Lorillard for the past 10 years. Can you imagine the increased liability in the lawsuits that these big tobacco companies would be facing in tort cases when those TSNA levels come out in court testimony. The big tobacco companies knew that TSNA's in their cigarettes were killing people, yet they opted not to license Star's patents and lower the TSNA's as low as possible (even down to below detectable levels).
Star has all these guys by the cohones. The smart company will settle first and start making tobacco products with TSNA levels Below Detectable Limits. JMHO
Star Scientific Is On A Run: Who's Buying And Who's Selling? [View article]
http://bit.ly/JyMwpJ
Interdigital: A Diamond in the Rough [View article]
I think all three of these judges recognize that there are over a dozen major companies around the world (Apple, RIM, Samsung, LG, Casio/Hitachi, NEC, HTC, Panasonic, Toshiba, Kyocera, Pantech, etc that are already paying IDCC on the exact same patents in suit. I think they want to get the ruling out and get on with other rulings.
Interdigital: A Diamond in the Rough [View article]
www.investorvillage.co...
Why 3-6 weeks?
www.investorvillage.co...
Good Luck if you decide to invest.
Rambus: The Next Big Litigation Play [View article]
Here is a list of patents in the case.
7,177,998 7,210,016 6,470,405 6,591,353
7,287,109 7,287,119 (withdrawn)
7,330,952 (withdrawn) 7,330,953 (withdrawn)
7,360,050 (withdrawn)
On Jun 08 09:57 PM JosephN wrote:
> Some of the patent claims against Nvidia were withdrawn today at
> RMBS request. I would like to hear Nuke John's take on this action.
>
>
> (*Long NVDA)
Star Scientific Is On A Run: Who's Buying And Who's Selling? [View article]
Top 10 Reasons Star Scientific Is Headed Higher [View article]
http://bit.ly/KbZUvJ
Of course, these statistics don't include the naked short shares (which could be almost as large as the reported short interest). It's not difficult to imagine the time when every GNC store is selling 1-2 bottles a day (instead of 3-4 bottles a week). In fact, I think we will be at that level sometime in early Q3. When people start doing research and start reporting how fast GNC's Anatabloc sales are ramping, the shorts will have to try to get out of their positions.
While I am not predicting a settlement with a big tobacco company in the next few weeks (which could bring 3-8 cents per pack of cigarettes)....it is definitely something that could happen in the next few months (we know mandated mediation/settlement talks are scheduled and it was inferred in Star's Press Release that talks are ongoing). How can anyone possibly want to stay short this stock?
JMHO,
NJ
Top 10 Reasons Star Scientific Is Headed Higher [View article]
http://bit.ly/JyMwpJ
I have now personally visited over 30 stores in the last three months, and I have called another 30-40. Of those stores, I'd say 75% are aware of it and either have it on their shelves (or were sold out and awaiting new stock). My personal visits have mostly been to store locations in Malls, so I think my representative sample list is skewed high (because I think the Mall stores were among the first to get Anatabloc). At this point I would say that over 75% of the Mall locations have Anatabloc in stock. I was trying to be conservative in my estimates of the number of stores that have Anatabloc. I have been to GNC stores in AZ, FL, GA, SC, NC, TN, VA, DC, MD, DE, PA, KY, OH and NY.
Back in March, it was rare that a store (even a big Mall store) had even heard of Anatabloc. Nobody knew what it was or even if they had heard of it, they didn't know much about it. In the last 2 months that has changed. Now it is rare that I visit a store that hasn't heard of it, but that did happen yesterday in a store in TN. When I told the store manager what it did and how it had helped me, he got online and started checking on it and he took a lot of notes. When I left, he told me "you have made my day".
I have recently been in two stores where the Sales Associate was taking the GNC online training class on Anatabloc, so I know there is a major push to educate GNC personnel and to sell it. Back in March, it was common for a big store to only get 2 - 6 bottles in their first shipment, and it wasn't selling all that well (a bottle every 1 or two weeks). In the last 2-3 weeks, I haven't been in a store that was carrying it that hasn't told me it was selling well. It is difficult to pin them down on how many bottles they have sold (in many cases I don't think the sales associate really even knows). But I have been to a couple of stores in Manhattan a few weeks ago that was selling 2 or 3 bottles per day (if you believe the sales associate). I will be back in NY and NJ next week, and will try to check again.
I was in Roanoke, VA last week. They have three GNC stores. They had two stores that were carrying it and the third had never heard of it. One store was sold out and was "expecting a shipment any day" , and one store had three bottles of the six bottles they had gotten the week before. I need to do a better job of collecting and assimilating the data when I travel and maybe start a spreadsheet for stores I have visited or called. I need to take more notes when I leave the store so I can post my observations.
It is my conservative estimate that over 50% of GNC stores in the US now have Anatabloc. The last time I checked their web site, they had over 5000 stores in the US, so I am guessing about 2500 stores now have it. Of the stores that have it, some of the major market stores are now selling over 20 bottles per week (if you believe the clerk), but I believe most are selling about 3-4 bottles per week. Some are still probably only selling 1-2 bottles per week. I need to gather more data and take better notes, but my off the cuff guess is that the average is now between 3 and 4 bottles per week per store. This research is pretty easy to do, but I will advise you to do it in person. You can get a lot more information with an in-store visit than you can get over the phone.
I encourage all Anatabloc Users (and CIGX investors) to visit the local GNC stores as often as possible and share your experiences about the benefits of Anatabloc with the GNC personnel. While in the store, gather as much research as possible on how well it is selling.
NJ
A Comparison in Fundamental Value: InterDigital and Qualcomm [View article]
ZTE believes that IDCC has 24% of the essential patents, and Qualcomm has 13%. Here's the pie chart they had in their article that shows each companies "essential IP" for LTE.
investorshub.advfn.com...
see pie chart link on left for my source...
www.businesswire.com/n...
Interdigital: A Diamond in the Rough [View article]
oralarguments.cafc.usc...
Also, if you would like to read comments of other investors in attendance, here is a link.
investorshub.advfn.com...
Note: There was a typo in the article that I have asked SA to correct. QCOM's return in 1999 was 2700% not 27000%.
NJ
Rambus: A New Day for High-End Memory [View article]
www.bloomberg.com/news...
When the evidence is presented in the Price Fixing Antitrust case in San Francisco, you will see the truth.
Rambus has made a lot of stupid decisions, but they weren't crooked. They just want to get paid for their IP, which revolutionized an industry.
On Aug 25 12:50 AM bolshaya_kartina wrote:
> Got to put it to you Rambus-ees. Memory cartel...that's such a cute
> way to describe an industry that's so fiercely competitive that they've
> been in a perpetual arms race that's nearly bankrupted every member
> save one. They did such a good job of manipulating prices--in the
> alleged Rambus-crushing timeframe, they were all losing money--which
> is more typical than not, actually. I suppose that was part of the
> strategy...still must be. They want Rambus to lose SO BAD that they'll
> drive themselves to extinction. Rambus can do no evil. Rambus played
> fair all along. Rambus is not a patent troll, for there's no such
> thing. Go Rambus!