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AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO SETTLEMENT AND LICENSE AGREEMENT AMONG RAMBUS INC. AND QIMONDA AG

Settlement Agreement

AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO SETTLEMENT AND LICENSE AGREEMENT AMONG RAMBUS INC. AND QIMONDA AG | Document Parties: RAMBUS INC | Infineon Technologies AG, Infineon Technologies North America Corp | Infineon Technologies Holding North America Inc | QIMONDA AG You are currently viewing:
This Settlement Agreement involves

RAMBUS INC | Infineon Technologies AG, Infineon Technologies North America Corp | Infineon Technologies Holding North America Inc | QIMONDA AG

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Title: AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO SETTLEMENT AND LICENSE AGREEMENT AMONG RAMBUS INC. AND QIMONDA AG
Date: 10/31/2008
Industry: Semiconductors     Sector: Technology

AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO SETTLEMENT AND LICENSE AGREEMENT AMONG RAMBUS INC. AND QIMONDA AG, Parties: rambus inc , infineon technologies ag  infineon technologies north america corp , infineon technologies holding north america inc , qimonda ag
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Exhibit 10.1

AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO SETTLEMENT AND LICENSE AGREEMENT
AMONG RAMBUS INC. AND QIMONDA AG

This AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO PATENT LICENSE AGREEMENT (“Amendment No. 1”) is effective as of this 8th of July 2008 (“Amendment No. 1 Effective Date”) and entered into by and between Rambus Inc., a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of Delaware, U.S.A., having its principal place of business at 4440 El Camino Real, Los Altos, California 94022, U.S.A., (hereinafter “Rambus”) and Qimonda AG, a German corporation, having a principal place of business at Gustav-Heinemann-Ring 212, 81739 Munich, Germany (hereinafter “Qimonda”).

WHEREAS, on March 18, 2005, Rambus entered into that certain Settlement and License Agreement with Infineon Technologies AG, Infineon Technologies North America Corp., and Infineon Technologies Holding North America Inc. (collectively, “Infineon”) (the “Patent License Agreement”) pursuant to which Rambus and Infineon agreed to settle certain disputes and court actions relating to certain memory products and memory interface technologies, to grant mutual releases with respect to past activities giving rise to such disputes and court actions and to grant the other licenses under certain patents with respect to memory products and memory interface technologies;

WHEREAS, on or about October 10, 2006, pursuant to Section 9.1 of the Patent License Agreement, Rambus received notice of and consented to the assignment by Infineon Technologies AG, on behalf of itself and Infineon Technologies North America Corp. and Infineon Technologies Holding North America Inc. of the Patent License Agreement to Qimonda AG; and

WHEREAS, Rambus and Qimonda now desire to amend and clarify certain provisions of the Patent License Agreement for the mutual benefit of each of the parties;

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and promises made between the parties and other valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1. Definitions

Except as otherwise defined in this Amendment No. 1, all initially capitalized terms used herein shall have the respective meanings assigned to such terms in the Patent License Agreement.

2. Amendments to Patent License Agreement

 

2.1

 

References to Infineon . Effective as of May 1, 2006, and except as specifically set forth herein, all references to “Infineon” in the Patent License Agreement (other than as set forth under Section 1.2 and Section 3.3 of the

 

 

 

 

[***]

 

Confidential treatment has been requested for the bracketed portions. The confidential redacted portion has been omitted and filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

-1-


 

 

 

 

Agreement as amended by this Amendment No.1 ) are hereby replaced with “Qimonda.”

 

2.2

 

Section 1.1 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, the terms of Section 1.1 are hereby replaced in their entirety with the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Affiliate . The term “Affiliate” means any entity controlling, under common control with, or controlled by, a party. The term “control” means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of management or policies (whether through ownership of securities, partnership or other ownership interests, by contract or otherwise), provided that, in any event, any entity that owns or holds, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent (50%) of the voting securities, partnership or other equity interests of any other entity (or is a general partner or managing member of any other entity), will be deemed to control such other entity. An entity shall only be deemed to be an Affiliate of any other entity for so long as such “control” exists.”

 

 

 

 

 

2.3

 

Section 1.4 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, the terms of Section 1.4 are hereby replaced in their entirety with the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Licensed Rambus Patents . The term “Licensed Rambus Patents” means all patents, utility models, and patent applications, in all countries of the world having a first effective filing date, in any country in the world, prior to March 18, 2005 including, without limitation, all reissuances, continuations, continuations-in-part, revisions, extensions and reexaminations thereof, and any patents and patent applications related thereto, filed or issued in any country of the world, that were owned or controlled by Rambus or any of its Affiliates on March 18, 2005 (and patents that may issue thereon) to the extent Rambus or its Affiliates was entitled to grant licenses thereunder without the payment of fees to any third party (other than to current or former employees for inventions made by such employees while employed by (i) Rambus or (ii) the third party from whom Rambus acquired the respective patent).”

 

 

 

 

 

2.4

 

Section 1.5 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, the terms of Section 1.5 are hereby replaced in their entirety with the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Qimonda Patents . The term “Qimonda Patents” means (i) all patents, utility models, and patent applications, in all countries of the world having a first effective filing date, in any country in the world, prior to March 18, 2005, including, without limitation, all reissuances, continuations, continuations-in-part, revisions, extensions and reexaminations thereof, and any patents and patent applications related thereto, filed or issued in any country of the world, that were owned or controlled by Infineon or any of its Affiliates on March 18, 2005 (and patents that may issue thereon, and irrespective whether Infineon or Qimonda continues to own such patents) to the extent Infineon or its Affiliates was entitled to grant licenses thereunder without the payment of

 

 

 

 

[***]

 

Confidential treatment has been requested for the bracketed portions. The confidential redacted portion has been omitted and filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

-2-


 

 

 

 

 

fees to any third party (other than to current or former employees for inventions made by such employees while employed by (i) Infineon or (ii) the third party from whom Infineon acquired the respective patent). Qimonda Patents shall not include any patents, utility models, and patent applications, in all countries of the world, pertaining to semiconductor manufacturing or testing technology.”

 

 

2.5

 

Section 1.8 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, the terms of Section 1.8 are hereby replaced in their entirety with the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memory IC . The term “Memory IC” means any semiconductor memory device, or equivalent, having information storage as its primary function and that is not capable of performing any substantial data processing that is not related to information storage, retrieval, or error correction, including but not limited to SDR SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, GDDR2 DRAM, GDDR3 DRAM, RLDRAM, RLDRAM2, RDRAM, XDR DRAM, Cellular RAM, low power DRAM, SRAM, Non-Volatile Memory and any subsequent generation of any such products.”

 

 

 

 

 

2.6

 

Section 1.14 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, the terms of Section 1.14 are hereby replaced in their entirety with the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Change of Control . The term “Change of Control of Qimonda means a transaction or a series of related transactions:

 

(i)

 

(1) in which any individual, entity or “group” (as described in Rule 13d-5(b) promulgated under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) (“Acquirer”) acquires “control” of Qimonda (where control has the meaning set forth in the definition of the term “Affiliate”), unless such Acquirer already had control of Qimonda immediately before such transaction(s); or

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2) in which Qimonda is merged or consolidated with or into another entity, including by way of triangular merger, where, the holders of Qimonda’s voting securities (or other similar ownership interest granting the power to direct or cause the direction of management or policies) prior to such transaction do not hold more than 50% of the voting securities (or other ownership interest granting the power to direct or cause the direction of management or policies) of the surviving entity or any entity that controls the surviving entity, or

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(3) resulting in the transfer or sale, either directly or indirectly, of all or substantially all of the assets of the DRAM business of Qimonda to any entity that, immediately before such transaction(s), is not an Affiliate of Qimonda and does not simultaneously upon such transfer or sale become a Subsidiary of Qimonda, and where Qimonda is not merged or consolidated with or into another entity as described under Section 1.14(i)(2) above; or

 

 

 

 

[***]

 

Confidential treatment has been requested for the bracketed portions. The confidential redacted portion has been omitted and filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

-3-


 

 

 

 

 

(4) the “execution” of any binding agreement which provides for any of the foregoing described in Section 1.14(i)(1) through (3) where “execution” means (i) the Change of Control unconditionally occurs upon the full execution of such binding agreement, or (ii) where the Change of Control does not occur as described in the preceding subsection (i), the fulfillment, or waiver, of the conditions that are required for the Change of Control to occur or otherwise come into effect; or

 

 

 

 

 

(ii)

 

in which Qimonda or any of its Affiliates acquires ownership or “control” (where control has the meaning set forth in the definition of the term “Affiliate”) of, by merger, acquisition of securities or assets, joint venture, business combination or otherwise, all or substantially all the business or assets of a Memory Unit (as defined hereinbelow). For this purpose, a “Memory Unit” means (A) any entity that manufactures (or has manufactured) and sells Memory ICs, or (B) any division (or other business unit) of an entity, which division (or other business unit) manufactures (or has manufactured) and sells Memory ICs and is responsible for all or substantially all of such Memory IC manufacturing (or having manufactured) and sales of the entity.

 

 

 

 

To the extent any Change of Control under Section 1.14(ii) above results in any of the outcomes of a Change of Control under Section 1.14(i) above, such Change of Control shall be deemed to be Change of Control under Section 1.14(i) above.”

 

2.7

 

Section 1.15 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, Article 1 of the Patent License Agreement is hereby amended to include the following new definition as Section 1.15:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Volatile Memory . The term “Non-Volatile Memory” means any semiconductor memory device, or equivalent, having information storage as its primary function and that is not capable of performing any substantial data processing that is not related to information storage, retrieval, or error correction that can retain information stored on such memory device, or equivalent, without electrical power to such device, including, but not limited to, flash, MRAM, FRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM and any subsequent generation of any such products.”

 

 

 

 

 

2.8

 

Section 1.16 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, Article 1 of the Patent License Agreement is hereby amended to include the following new definition as Section 1.16:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Semiconductor Memory Design . The term “Semiconductor Memory Design” means any form of human or machine readable representation (e.g., circuit reference design, design databases, etc.) for, all or substantially all of, any entire (i) semiconductor memory device, (ii) mechanical, optical, electronic or other form of interconnect designed to connect such

 

 

 

 

[***]

 

Confidential treatment has been requested for the bracketed portions. The confidential redacted portion has been omitted and filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

-4-


 

 

 

 

 

semiconductor memory device to other devices and/or (iii) packaging for such semiconductor memory device.”

 

 

 

 

 

2.9

 

Section 1.17 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, Article 1 of the Patent License Agreement is hereby amended to include the following new definition as Section 1.17:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rambus Proprietary Semiconductor Memory Design . The term “Rambus Proprietary Semiconductor Memory Design” means a Semiconductor Memory Design:

     (A) (1) first disclosed, designed and implemented by or for Rambus or (2) acquired by Rambus from a third party (e.g. as part a merger or an acquisition of some or all of the assets and/or business of such third party) and first disclosed, designed and implemented (i) by or for Rambus or (ii) by or for such third party, and

     (B) where Rambus licenses such Semiconductor Memory Design for a separate fee as part of its general technology licensing business and where such licenses include documentation, know-how and technical support and further, where the products implementing such Semiconductor Memory Design are generally excluded from the scope Rambus’ patent license agreements.

 

 

 

Examples of Rambus Proprietary Semiconductor Memory Designs are RDRAM, XDR, XDR2 and Rambus’ low power memory interface currently marketed as “Velora”. Whether a Semiconductor Memory Design constitutes a Rambus Proprietary Semiconductor Memory Design shall be based, in addition to the criteria above, on whether the level of contribution by Rambus, or, if acquired by Rambus from a third party, by such third party, is comparable to RDRAM, XDR, XDR2 and/or Velora.

 

 

 

 

 

2.10

 

Section 1.18 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, Article 1 of the Patent License Agreement is hereby amended to include the following new definition as Section 1.18:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excluded Entity . The term “Excluded Entity” means [***], and any and all Affiliates of the foregoing (or a successor to all or substantially all of the assets and liabilities of any such entity or its Affiliates).”

 

 

 

 

 

2.11

 

Section 1.19 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, Article 1 of the Patent License Agreement is hereby amended to include the following new definition as Section 1.19:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subsidiary . The term “Subsidiary” means any entity that is controlled by another entity (where control has the meaning set forth in the definition of the term “Affiliate”).”

 

 

 

 

[***]

 

Confidential treatment has been requested for the bracketed portions. The confidential redacted portion has been omitted and filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

-5-


 

 

 

2.12

 

Section 2.4 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, the terms of Section 2.4 of the Patent License Agreement are hereby replaced in their entirety with the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“During and for each calendar quarter that Rambus receives payments from Qimonda towards the First Cap, Second Cap and/or Final Cap (as such terms are defined in Sections 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4, respectively), but in any event, at least for the period of [***], Rambus and its Affiliates hereby grant to Qimonda and its Affiliates a nonexclusive, world-wide, irrevocable license (without the right to grant sublicenses), of the same scope as per Section 2.2, under all patents and patent applications, other than Licensed Rambus Patents, including, without limitation, all reissuances, continuations, continuations-in-part, revisions, extensions and reexaminations thereof, filed or issued in any country of the world, that are owned or controlled by Rambus or any of its Affiliates now or hereafter (and patents that may issue thereon) to the extent Rambus or its Affiliates are entitled to grant licenses thereunder without the payment of fees to any third party (other than to current or former employees for inventions made by such employees while employed by (i) Rambus or (ii) the third party from whom Rambus acquired the respective patent) (“Term License”). At the expiration of each Term License Period set forth in this Section 2.4, and subject to Article 3, the Term License granted under this Section 2.4 shall automatically terminate.”

 

 

 

 

 

2.13

 

Article 3 . Effective as of the Amendment No. 1 Effective Date, the provisions of Article 3 are hereby replaced in their entirety with the following:

 

 

 

 

“3.1 Most Favored Licensee . Upon request by Qimonda, Qimonda and its Affiliates shall be entitled to obtain and Rambus shall grant an additional license of the same scope as per Section 2.4, at the then applicable most favored license terms and conditions (“Most Favored Term License”). Qimonda may request such Most Favored Term License within [***] (the “MFL Option Period’). If Qimonda does not request such Most Favored Term License within the MFL Option Period, Rambus shall have no further obligation under this Section 3.1. To the extent there [***], all amounts paid under the Most Favored Term License [***].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The terms of this Section 3.1 shall automatically and immediately terminate upon any Change of Control of Qimonda as defined under Section 1.14(i) where any of the Prior Entities (as defined in Section 9.4, per alternative (i) of such definition) is an Excluded Entity, provided that if the Most Favored Term License is in full force and effect at the time of such Change of Control, such Most Favored Term License shall survive such Change of Control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.2 Supplemental Term License . Notwithstanding the terms of Section 2.4 above, provided Qimonda is not in breach of its payment obligations under this Agreement, if during any period [***], the Term License under Section 2.4 above, according to its terms, has terminated (each such period referred to

 

 

 

 

[***]

 

Confidential treatment has been requested for the bracketed portions. The confidential redacted portion has been omitted and filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

-6-


 

 

 

 

 

as a “Supplemental Term License Period”), whether due to [***], Rambus and its Affiliates agree to grant, and do hereby grant, Qimonda and its Affiliates, a license of the same scope as per Section 2.4 during any period that constitutes a Supplemental Term License Period, provided that such license shall (i) subject to the last sentence of this paragraph, [***] and (ii) automatically and immediately terminate upon a Change of Control of Qimonda as defined in Section 1.14(i) where any of the Prior Entities (as defined in Section 9.4, per alternative (i) of such definition) is an Excluded Entity that does not have a Prior Entities License Agreement (as defined in Section 9.4) and [***]. The [***] acquired from a third party shall apply (i) only if [***] and (ii) solely to those [***].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.3. Additional License to Non-Infineon Licensed Products . Further, upon request of Infineon, Infineon and its Affiliates shall be entitled to obtain and Rambus shall grant to Infineon and its Affiliates a license under any patents, utility models, and patent applications, including, without limitation, all reissuances, continuations, continuations-in-part, revisions, extensions and reexaminations thereof, filed or issued in any country of the world, that are


 
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