Ramtron International Corp. (Colorado Springs, CO) announced that it has signed an agreement with National Semiconductor Corp. to settle its long-standing patent interference dispute. As consideration for the assigned patent applications and cross license provisions, Ramtron will pay National 10 annual payments of $250,000. In addition, Ramtron and National have agreed to cross license any and all future patents that may mature from the four applications at no additional cost to either company.
The dispute and settlement pertain only to certain of Ramtron's patent coverage in the US. The original interference, declared in 1991, related to one of Ramtron's issued US patents that covers a basic ferro-electric memory cell design invention. The patent dispute involved five patent applications by National, each with a corresponding count of interference against claims contained in a single Ramtron ferro-electric random access memory patent.
Under the terms of the settlement, National will assign to Ramtron two of National's current patent applications related to the patent interferences and National will retain two of the remaining applications. Ramtron intends to apply for patents with the newly assigned patent applications. The fifth remaining count of interference will be sent to a Special Master for a final ruling.
