Rambus case challenges current IPR rules

Amy Zuckerman of the Electronic News writes that the ongoing Rambus cases highlight deeper problems in the rules governing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). As the patent infringement cases filed by Rambus against memory makers have developed, the question at the heart of the issue has been the viability of the standards process, particularly the rules that govern IPR in committees of the Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council (JEDEC).

Electronic News asked a series of standards experts about the current system, eliciting a range of answers. While some consider the system broken in need of systemic overhaul, other warn that isolated incidents in a generally successful system should not be used to invite governments to take over the standards process.

In a related article, the New York Times covers Software pioneer David Winer's warnings that Microsoft Corp. is using the standards process to lock developers into its system to the end that Web programs will be compatible only with Microsoft's version of the Internet.

Read the JEDEC article at electronicnews.com. The Microsoft article is at nyt.yahoo.