e10vq
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
(Mark One)
|
|
|
þ |
|
QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2011
OR
|
|
|
o |
|
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
Commission File Number: 000-22339
RAMBUS INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
|
|
|
Delaware
|
|
94-3112828 |
(State or other jurisdiction of
|
|
(I.R.S. Employer |
incorporation or organization)
|
|
Identification No.) |
1050 Enterprise Way, Suite 700, Sunnyvale, CA 94089
(Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)
Registrants telephone number, including area code: (408) 462-8000
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed
by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or
for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been
subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its
corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted
pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months
(or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes
þ No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated
filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of large
accelerated filer, accelerated filer and smaller reporting company in Rule 12b-2 of the
Exchange Act. (Check one):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Large accelerated filer þ
|
|
Accelerated filer o
|
|
Non-accelerated filer o
|
|
Smaller reporting company o |
|
|
|
|
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company) |
|
|
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of
the Exchange Act). Yes o No þ
The number of shares outstanding of the registrants Common Stock, par value $.001 per share,
was 107,785,430 as of March 31, 2011.
RAMBUS INC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2
NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (Quarterly Report) contains forward-looking statements.
These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, predictions regarding the following
aspects of our future:
|
|
|
Success in the markets of our or our licensees products; |
|
|
|
|
Sources of competition; |
|
|
|
|
Research and development costs and improvements in technology; |
|
|
|
|
Sources, amounts and concentration of revenue, including royalties; |
|
|
|
|
Success in renewing license agreements; |
|
|
|
|
Product development; |
|
|
|
|
Acquisitions, mergers or strategic transactions; |
|
|
|
|
Pricing policies of our licensees; |
|
|
|
|
Engineering, marketing and general and administration expenses; |
|
|
|
|
Contract revenue; |
|
|
|
|
Operating results; |
|
|
|
|
International licenses and operations and the operations of our licensees in Japan; |
|
|
|
|
Issuances of our securities, which could involve restrictive covenants or be dilutive to
our existing stockholders; |
|
|
|
|
Interest and other income, net; |
|
|
|
|
Effects of changes in the economy and credit market on our industry and business; |
|
|
|
|
Deterioration of financial health of commercial counterparties and their ability to meet
their obligations to us; |
|
|
|
|
Ability to identify, attract, motivate and retain qualified personnel; |
|
|
|
|
Restructuring activities; |
|
|
|
|
Growth in our business; |
|
|
|
|
Methods, estimates and judgments in accounting policies; |
|
|
|
|
Adoption of new accounting pronouncements; |
|
|
|
|
Effective tax rates; |
|
|
|
|
Realization of deferred tax assets/release of deferred tax valuation allowance; |
|
|
|
|
Repurchases of our Common Stock pursuant to share repurchase programs, contingently
redeemable Common Stock which we may be required to repurchase or other repurchases; |
3
|
|
|
Trading price of our Common Stock; |
|
|
|
|
Internal control environment; |
|
|
|
|
Corporate governance; |
|
|
|
|
Consequences of the lawsuits related to the stock option investigation; |
|
|
|
|
The level and terms of our outstanding debt; |
|
|
|
|
Outcome and effect of current and potential future intellectual property litigation; |
|
|
|
|
Resolution of the governmental agency matters involving us; |
|
|
|
|
Litigation expenses; |
|
|
|
|
Protection of intellectual property; |
|
|
|
|
Terms of our licenses; |
|
|
|
|
Amounts owed under licensing agreements; |
|
|
|
|
Indemnification and technical support obligations; and |
|
|
|
|
Likelihood of paying dividends or repurchasing stock. |
You can identify these and other forward-looking statements by the use of words such as may,
future, shall, should, expects, plans, anticipates, believes, estimates,
predicts, intends, potential, continue, or the negative of such terms, or other comparable
terminology. Forward-looking statements also include the assumptions underlying or relating to any
of the foregoing statements.
Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking
statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under Item 1A, Risk Factors.
All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on our assessment of information
available to us at this time. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
4
RAMBUS INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(Unaudited)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except shares |
|
|
|
and par value) |
|
ASSETS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current assets: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
|
$ |
182,234 |
|
|
$ |
215,262 |
|
Marketable securities |
|
|
326,341 |
|
|
|
296,747 |
|
Accounts receivable |
|
|
389 |
|
|
|
2,600 |
|
Prepaids and other current assets |
|
|
10,988 |
|
|
|
10,898 |
|
Deferred taxes |
|
|
2,420 |
|
|
|
2,420 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total current assets |
|
|
522,372 |
|
|
|
527,927 |
|
Deferred taxes, long-term |
|
|
3,020 |
|
|
|
2,974 |
|
Intangible assets, net |
|
|
39,007 |
|
|
|
40,986 |
|
Goodwill |
|
|
18,154 |
|
|
|
18,154 |
|
Property, plant and equipment, net |
|
|
70,520 |
|
|
|
67,770 |
|
Other assets |
|
|
6,086 |
|
|
|
5,361 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total assets |
|
$ |
659,159 |
|
|
$ |
663,172 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIABILITIES, CONTINGENTLY REDEEMABLE COMMON STOCK & STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accounts payable |
|
$ |
11,292 |
|
|
$ |
5,952 |
|
Accrued salaries and benefits |
|
|
9,907 |
|
|
|
31,634 |
|
Accrued litigation expenses |
|
|
4,744 |
|
|
|
4,060 |
|
Other accrued liabilities |
|
|
11,778 |
|
|
|
14,165 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total current liabilities |
|
|
37,721 |
|
|
|
55,811 |
|
Convertible notes, long-term |
|
|
124,359 |
|
|
|
121,500 |
|
Long-term imputed financing obligation |
|
|
34,362 |
|
|
|
27,899 |
|
Long-term income taxes payable |
|
|
4,610 |
|
|
|
4,577 |
|
Other long-term liabilities |
|
|
5,080 |
|
|
|
5,102 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities |
|
|
206,132 |
|
|
|
214,889 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Commitments and contingencies |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contingently redeemable common stock: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Issued and outstanding: 4,788,125 shares at March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010 |
|
|
113,500 |
|
|
|
113,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stockholders equity: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Convertible preferred stock, $.001 par value: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Authorized: 5,000,000 shares |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Issued and outstanding: no shares at March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Common stock, $.001 par value: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Authorized: 500,000,000 shares |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Issued and outstanding: 102,997,305 shares at March 31, 2011 and 102,676,544
shares at December 31, 2010 |
|
|
103 |
|
|
|
103 |
|
Additional paid-in capital |
|
|
920,607 |
|
|
|
911,632 |
|
Accumulated deficit |
|
|
(580,820 |
) |
|
|
(576,590 |
) |
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net |
|
|
(363 |
) |
|
|
(362 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total stockholders equity |
|
|
339,527 |
|
|
|
334,783 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities, contingently redeemable common stock and stockholders equity |
|
$ |
659,159 |
|
|
$ |
663,172 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
See Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements
5
RAMBUS INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Unaudited)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except per |
|
|
|
share amounts) |
|
Revenue: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Royalties |
|
$ |
59,235 |
|
|
$ |
160,542 |
|
Contract revenue |
|
|
3,292 |
|
|
|
1,322 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total revenue |
|
|
62,527 |
|
|
|
161,864 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating costs and expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenue* |
|
|
3,149 |
|
|
|
1,854 |
|
Research and development* |
|
|
23,317 |
|
|
|
21,691 |
|
Marketing, general and administrative* |
|
|
32,732 |
|
|
|
31,527 |
|
Costs of restatement and related legal activities |
|
|
1,159 |
|
|
|
526 |
|
Gain from settlement |
|
|
(6,200 |
) |
|
|
(95,900 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total operating costs and expenses (recoveries) |
|
|
54,157 |
|
|
|
(40,302 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating income |
|
|
8,370 |
|
|
|
202,166 |
|
Interest income and other income (expense), net |
|
|
(652 |
) |
|
|
425 |
|
Interest expense on convertible notes |
|
|
(5,172 |
) |
|
|
(6,016 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest and other income (expense), net |
|
|
(5,824 |
) |
|
|
(5,591 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income before income taxes |
|
|
2,546 |
|
|
|
196,575 |
|
Provision for income taxes |
|
|
6,776 |
|
|
|
45,676 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income (loss) |
|
$ |
(4,230 |
) |
|
$ |
150,899 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income (loss) per share: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic |
|
$ |
(0.04 |
) |
|
$ |
1.33 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diluted |
|
$ |
(0.04 |
) |
|
$ |
1.28 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted average shares used in per share calculation: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic |
|
|
107,613 |
|
|
|
113,132 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diluted |
|
|
107,613 |
|
|
|
117,463 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
Includes stock-based compensation: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenue |
|
$ |
123 |
|
|
$ |
100 |
|
Research and development |
|
$ |
2,512 |
|
|
$ |
2,569 |
|
Marketing, general and administrative |
|
$ |
4,655 |
|
|
$ |
5,165 |
|
See Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements
6
RAMBUS INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Unaudited)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Cash flows from operating activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income (loss) |
|
$ |
(4,230 |
) |
|
$ |
150,899 |
|
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
7,290 |
|
|
|
7,834 |
|
Depreciation |
|
|
2,803 |
|
|
|
2,473 |
|
Amortization of intangible assets |
|
|
1,979 |
|
|
|
1,086 |
|
Non-cash interest expense and amortization of convertible debt issuance costs |
|
|
3,016 |
|
|
|
3,860 |
|
Deferred tax benefit |
|
|
(46 |
) |
|
|
(29 |
) |
Change in assets and liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accounts receivable |
|
|
2,211 |
|
|
|
479 |
|
Prepaids and other assets |
|
|
(343 |
) |
|
|
4 |
|
Accounts payable |
|
|
4,091 |
|
|
|
(639 |
) |
Accrued salaries and benefits and other accrued liabilities |
|
|
(24,502 |
) |
|
|
9,248 |
|
Accrued litigation expenses |
|
|
684 |
|
|
|
(592 |
) |
Income taxes payable |
|
|
2,502 |
|
|
|
2,875 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities |
|
|
(4,545 |
) |
|
|
177,498 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash flows from investing activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Purchases of property, plant and equipment |
|
|
(6,478 |
) |
|
|
(534 |
) |
Purchases of marketable securities |
|
|
(94,160 |
) |
|
|
(136,519 |
) |
Maturities of marketable securities |
|
|
62,820 |
|
|
|
39,562 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash used in investing activities |
|
|
(37,818 |
) |
|
|
(97,491 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash flows from financing activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proceeds from landlord for tenant improvements |
|
|
6,739 |
|
|
|
|
|
Proceeds received from issuance of common stock under employee stock plans |
|
|
3,263 |
|
|
|
3,664 |
|
Principal payments against lease financing obligation |
|
|
(417 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Payments under installment payment arrangement |
|
|
(250 |
) |
|
|
(400 |
) |
Proceeds received from issuance of contingently redeemable common stock and common stock pursuant
to the settlement agreement with Samsung |
|
|
|
|
|
|
192,000 |
|
Repayment of convertible senior notes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(136,950 |
) |
Repurchase and retirement of common stock |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(26,473 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash provided by financing activities |
|
|
9,335 |
|
|
|
31,841 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents |
|
|
(33,028 |
) |
|
|
111,848 |
|
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period |
|
|
215,262 |
|
|
|
289,073 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period |
|
$ |
182,234 |
|
|
$ |
400,921 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Non-cash investing activities and financing activities: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Property, plant and equipment received and accrued in accounts payable and other accrued liabilities |
|
$ |
2,362 |
|
|
$ |
344 |
|
Non-cash obligation for property, plant and equipment |
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
800 |
|
Intangible assets acquired under installment payment arrangement |
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
1,131 |
|
See Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements
7
RAMBUS INC.
NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
1. Basis of Presentation
The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Rambus
Inc. (Rambus or the Company) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and
transactions have been eliminated in the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements.
Investments in entities with less than 20% ownership or in which the Company does not have the
ability to significantly influence the operations of the investee are being accounted for using the
cost method and are included in other assets.
In the opinion of management, the unaudited consolidated financial statements include all
adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring items) necessary to state fairly the financial
position and results of operations for each interim period presented. Interim results are not
necessarily indicative of results for a full year.
The unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the
rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) applicable to interim
financial information. Certain information and Note disclosures included in the financial
statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles have been omitted
in these interim statements pursuant to such SEC rules and regulations. The information included in
this Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes
thereto in Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010.
2. Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In September 2009, the Emerging Issues Task Force (the EITF) reached final consensus under
Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2009-13 on the issue related to revenue arrangements with
multiple deliverables. This issue addresses how to determine whether an arrangement involving
multiple deliverables contains more than one unit of accounting and how arrangement consideration
should be measured and allocated to the separate units of accounting. This issue is effective for
the Companys revenue arrangements entered into or materially modified on or after January 1, 2011.
The Company adopted this issue in the first quarter of 2011 and the adoption of this new issue did
not have a material impact to the Companys consolidated financial statements as the Company does
not typically enter into multiple element arrangements.
3. Settlement Agreement with Samsung
On January 19, 2010, the Company, Samsung and certain related entities of Samsung entered into
a Settlement Agreement (the Settlement Agreement) to release all claims against each other with
respect to all outstanding litigation between them and certain other potential claims. Pursuant to
the Settlement Agreement, the Company and Samsung entered into a Semiconductor Patent License
Agreement on January 19, 2010 (the License Agreement), under which Samsung licenses from the
Company non-exclusive rights to certain Rambus patents over the next five years. In addition, as
part of the Settlement Agreement, Samsung purchased approximately 9.6 million shares of common
stock of Rambus for cash pursuant to the terms of a Stock Purchase Agreement dated January 19, 2010
(the Stock Purchase Agreement). See Note 8,
Stockholders Equity and Contingently Redeemable Common
Stock, for further discussion. Finally, pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the Company and Samsung signed a
non-binding memorandum of understanding relating to discussions around a new generation of memory
technologies.
The Samsung Settlement is a multiple element arrangement for accounting purposes. For the
multiple element arrangement, the Company identified each element of the arrangement and determined
when those elements should be recognized. Using the accounting guidance from multiple element
revenue arrangements, the Company allocated the consideration to each element using the estimated
fair value of the elements. The Company considered several factors in determining the accounting
fair value of the elements of the Samsung Settlement which included a third party valuation using
an income approach, the Black-Scholes option pricing model and a residual approach (collectively
the Fair Value). The inputs and assumptions used in this valuation were from a market participant
perspective and included projected revenue, royalty rates, estimated discount rates, useful lives
and income tax rates, among others. The development of a number of these inputs and assumptions in
the model requires a significant amount of management judgment and is based upon a number of
factors, including the selection of industry comparables, market growth rates
8
and other relevant factors. Changes in any number of these assumptions may have had a
substantial impact on the Fair Value as assigned to each element. These inputs and assumptions
represent managements best estimates at the time of the transaction.
During the first quarter of 2011, the Company received cash consideration of $25.0 million
from Samsung. The amount was allocated between revenue ($18.8 million) and gain from settlement
($6.2 million) based on the estimated Fair Value for the remaining elements.
The remaining $375.0 million is expected to be paid in successive quarterly payments of
approximately $25.0 million (subject to adjustments per the terms of the License Agreement),
concluding in the last quarter of 2014.
The cash receipts through the first quarter of 2011 and the remaining future cash receipts
from the agreements with Samsung are expected to be recognized as follows assuming no adjustments
to the payments under the terms of the agreements:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three months |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Received in |
|
|
Ended March |
|
|
Remainder |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Estimated |
|
(in millions) |
|
2010 |
|
|
31, 2011 |
|
|
of 2011 |
|
|
2012 |
|
|
2013 |
|
|
2014 |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
Revenue |
|
$ |
181.2 |
|
|
$ |
18.8 |
|
|
$ |
75.0 |
|
|
$ |
100.0 |
|
|
$ |
100.0 |
|
|
$ |
100.0 |
|
|
$ |
575.0 |
|
Gain from settlement |
|
|
126.8 |
|
|
|
6.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
133.0 |
|
Purchase of Rambus Common Stock |
|
|
192.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
192.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
500.0 |
|
|
$ |
25.0 |
|
|
$ |
75.0 |
|
|
$ |
100.0 |
|
|
$ |
100.0 |
|
|
$ |
100.0 |
|
|
$ |
900.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. Comprehensive Income (Loss)
Rambus comprehensive income (loss) consists of its net income (loss) plus other comprehensive
loss consisting of unrealized losses, net, on marketable securities, net of taxes.
The components of comprehensive income (loss), net of tax, are as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
(In thousands) |
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
Net income (loss) |
|
$ |
(4,230 |
) |
|
$ |
150,899 |
|
Other comprehensive loss: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unrealized loss on marketable securities, net of tax |
|
|
(1 |
) |
|
|
(325 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total comprehensive income (loss) |
|
$ |
(4,231 |
) |
|
$ |
150,574 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. Equity Incentive Plans and Stock-Based Compensation
Stock Option Plans
As of March 31, 2011, 3,493,316 shares of the 14,900,000 shares approved under the 2006 Plan
remain available for grant. The 2006 Plan is now the Companys only plan for providing stock-based
incentive compensation to eligible employees, executive officers, non-employee directors and
consultants.
A summary of shares available for grant under the Companys plans is as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shares Available |
|
|
for Grant |
Shares available as of December 31, 2010 |
|
|
5,348,162 |
|
Stock options granted |
|
|
(1,633,701 |
) |
Stock options forfeited |
|
|
93,476 |
|
Stock options expired under former plans |
|
|
(5,183 |
) |
Nonvested equity stock and stock units granted (1) |
|
|
(320,331 |
) |
Nonvested equity stock and stock units forfeited (1) |
|
|
10,893 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total available for grant as of March 31, 2011 |
|
|
3,493,316 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
9
|
|
|
(1) |
|
For purposes of determining the number of shares available for grant under the 2006 Plan
against the maximum number of shares authorized, each restricted stock granted reduces the
number of shares available for grant by 1.5 shares and each restricted stock forfeited
increases shares available for grant by 1.5 shares. |
General Stock Option Information
The following table summarizes stock option activity under the 1997, 1999 and 2006 Plans for
the three months ended March 31, 2011 and information regarding stock options outstanding,
exercisable, and vested and expected to vest as of March 31, 2011.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Options Outstanding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted |
|
Average |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
|
Remaining |
|
Aggregate |
|
|
Number of |
|
Exercise Price |
|
Contractual |
|
Intrinsic |
|
|
Shares |
|
Per Share |
|
Term(years) |
|
Value |
|
|
(Dollars in thousands, except per share amounts) |
Outstanding as of December 31, 2010 |
|
|
13,969,383 |
|
|
$ |
18.85 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Options granted |
|
|
1,633,701 |
|
|
|
20.89 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Options exercised |
|
|
(234,976 |
) |
|
|
11.55 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Options forfeited |
|
|
(93,476 |
) |
|
|
18.65 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Outstanding as of March 31, 2011 |
|
|
15,274,632 |
|
|
|
19.18 |
|
|
|
5.73 |
|
|
$ |
43,461 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vested or expected to vest at March 31, 2011 |
|
|
14,451,619 |
|
|
|
19.40 |
|
|
|
5.67 |
|
|
|
38,991 |
|
Options exercisable at March 31, 2011 |
|
|
10,159,406 |
|
|
|
19.54 |
|
|
|
4.48 |
|
|
|
30,817 |
|
The aggregate intrinsic value in the table above represents the total pre-tax intrinsic value
for in-the-money options at March 31, 2011, based on the $19.75 closing stock price of Rambus
Common Stock on March 31, 2011 on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, which would have been received
by the option holders had all option holders exercised their options as of that date. The total
number of in-the-money options outstanding and exercisable as of March 31, 2011 was 7,726,825 and
6,069,582, respectively.
Employee Stock Purchase Plans
No purchases were made under the Employee Stock Purchase Plans during the three months ended
March 31, 2011 and 2010 respectively. As of March 31, 2011, 585,768 shares under the 2006 Purchase
Plan remain available for issuance.
Stock-Based Compensation
For the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company maintained stock plans
covering a broad range of potential equity grants including stock options, nonvested equity stock
and equity stock units and performance based instruments. In addition, the Company sponsors an
ESPP, whereby eligible employees are entitled to purchase Common Stock semi-annually, by means of
limited payroll deductions, at a 15% discount from the fair market value of the Common Stock as of
specific dates.
Stock Options
During the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, Rambus granted 1,633,701 and 1,586,973
stock options, respectively, with an estimated total grant-date fair value of $17.7 million and
$20.9 million, respectively. During the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, Rambus recorded
stock-based compensation related to stock options of $5.2 million and $5.7 million, respectively.
As of March 31, 2011, there was $44.7 million of total unrecognized compensation cost, net of
expected forfeitures, related to non-vested stock-based compensation arrangements granted under the
stock option plans. That cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 3.4
years. The total fair value of shares vested as of March 31, 2011 was $140.7 million.
The total intrinsic value of options exercised was $2.1 million and $1.9 million for the three
months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. Intrinsic value is the total value of exercised
shares based on the price of the Companys common stock at the time of exercise less the cash
received from the employees to exercise the options.
During the three months ended March 31, 2011, net proceeds from employee stock option
exercises totaled approximately $2.7 million.
10
Employee Stock Purchase Plans
For the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company recorded compensation expense
related to the Employee Stock Purchase Plan of $0.4 million and $0.5 million, respectively. As of
March 31, 2011 there was $0.1 million of total unrecognized compensation cost related to
share-based compensation arrangements granted under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. This cost is
expected to be recognized over one month.
There were no tax benefits realized as a result of employee stock option exercises, stock
purchase plan purchases, and vesting of equity stock and stock units for the three months ended
March 31, 2011 and 2010 calculated in accordance with accounting for share-based payments.
Valuation Assumptions
The fair value of stock awards is estimated as of the grant date using the
Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) option-pricing model assuming a dividend yield of 0% and the
additional weighted-average assumptions as listed in the following tables:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
2011 |
|
2010 |
Stock Option Plans |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expected stock price volatility |
|
|
52 |
% |
|
|
61 |
% |
Risk free interest rate |
|
|
2.79 |
% |
|
|
2.44 |
% |
Expected term (in years) |
|
|
6.0 |
|
|
|
5.9 |
|
Weighted-average fair value of stock options granted |
|
$ |
10.81 |
|
|
$ |
13.18 |
|
No grants were made under the Employee Stock Purchase Plans during the three months ended
March 31, 2011 and 2010.
Nonvested Equity Stock and Stock Units
For the three months ended March 31, 2011, the Company granted nonvested equity stock units to
certain officers and employees totaling 213,554 shares under the 2006 Plan. These awards have a
service condition, generally a service period of four years, except in the case of grants to
directors, for which the service period is one year. The nonvested equity stock units were valued
at the date of grant giving them a fair value of approximately $4.5 million. The Company
occasionally grants nonvested equity stock units to its employees with vesting subject to the
achievement of certain performance conditions. During the three months ended March 31, 2011 and
2010, the achievement of certain performance conditions for certain performance equity stock units
was considered probable, and as a result, the Company recognized an immaterial amount of
stock-based compensation expense related to these performance stock units for both periods.
For the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company recorded stock-based
compensation expense of approximately $1.7 million and $1.6 million, respectively, related to all
outstanding unvested equity stock grants. Unrecognized stock-based compensation related to all
nonvested equity stock grants, net of estimated forfeitures, was approximately $11.2 million at
March 31, 2011. This is expected to be recognized over a weighted average of 2.2 years.
The following table reflects the activity related to nonvested equity stock and stock units
for the three months ended March 31, 2011:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Average |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grant-Date |
|
Nonvested Equity Stock and Stock Units |
|
Shares |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
Nonvested at December 31, 2010 |
|
|
718,007 |
|
|
$ |
18.23 |
|
Granted |
|
|
213,554 |
|
|
|
20.86 |
|
Vested |
|
|
(134,697 |
) |
|
|
16.94 |
|
Forfeited |
|
|
(7,262 |
) |
|
|
22.72 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nonvested at March 31, 2011 |
|
|
789,602 |
|
|
|
19.12 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6. Marketable Securities
11
Rambus invests its excess cash and cash equivalents primarily in U.S. government agency and
treasury notes, commercial paper, corporate notes and bonds, money market funds and municipal notes
and bonds that mature within three years.
All cash equivalents and marketable securities are classified as available-for-sale. Total
cash, cash equivalent and marketable securities are summarized as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Weighted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Rate of |
|
(Dollars in thousands) |
|
Fair Value |
|
|
Cost |
|
|
Gains |
|
|
Losses |
|
|
Return |
|
Money Market Funds |
|
$ |
172,693 |
|
|
$ |
172,693 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
0.02 |
% |
U.S. Government Bonds and Notes |
|
|
177,888 |
|
|
|
177,863 |
|
|
|
29 |
|
|
|
(4 |
) |
|
|
0.23 |
% |
Corporate Notes, Bonds and Commercial Paper |
|
|
148,453 |
|
|
|
148,552 |
|
|
|
9 |
|
|
|
(108 |
) |
|
|
0.38 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
|
499,034 |
|
|
|
499,108 |
|
|
|
38 |
|
|
|
(112 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Cash |
|
|
9,541 |
|
|
|
9,541 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
$ |
508,575 |
|
|
$ |
508,649 |
|
|
$ |
38 |
|
|
$ |
(112 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Weighted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Rate of |
|
(Dollars in thousands) |
|
Fair Value |
|
|
Cost |
|
|
Gains |
|
|
Losses |
|
|
Return |
|
Money Market Funds |
|
$ |
132,364 |
|
|
$ |
132,364 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
0.04 |
% |
U.S. Government Bonds and Notes |
|
|
266,817 |
|
|
|
266,840 |
|
|
|
29 |
|
|
|
(52 |
) |
|
|
0.26 |
% |
Corporate Notes, Bonds and Commercial Paper |
|
|
95,724 |
|
|
|
95,773 |
|
|
|
8 |
|
|
|
(57 |
) |
|
|
0.39 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
|
494,905 |
|
|
|
494,977 |
|
|
|
37 |
|
|
|
(109 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Cash |
|
|
17,104 |
|
|
|
17,104 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
$ |
512,009 |
|
|
$ |
512,081 |
|
|
$ |
37 |
|
|
$ |
(109 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Available-for-sale securities are reported at fair value on the balance sheets and classified
as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
(Dollars in thousands) |
|
Cash equivalents |
|
$ |
172,693 |
|
|
$ |
198,158 |
|
Short term marketable securities |
|
|
326,341 |
|
|
|
296,747 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
|
499,034 |
|
|
|
494,905 |
|
Cash |
|
|
9,541 |
|
|
|
17,104 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
$ |
508,575 |
|
|
$ |
512,009 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Company continues to invest in high quality, highly liquid debt securities that mature
within three years. The Company holds all of its marketable securities as available-for-sale, marks
them to market, and regularly reviews its portfolio to ensure adherence to its investment policy
and to monitor individual investments for risk analysis, proper valuation, and unrealized losses
that may be other than temporary. As of March 31, 2011, marketable debt securities with a fair
value of $150.3 million, which mature within one year, had insignificant unrealized losses. The
unrealized loss, net, at March 31, 2011 was insignificant in relation to the Companys total
available-for-sale portfolio. The unrealized loss, net, can be primarily attributed to a
combination of market conditions as well as the demand for and duration of the Companys U.S.
government bonds and notes. The Company has no intent to sell, there is no requirement to sell and
the Company believes that it can recover the amortized cost of these investments. The Company has
found no evidence of impairment due to credit losses in its portfolio. Therefore, these unrealized
losses were recorded in other comprehensive income (loss). However, the Company cannot provide any
assurance that its portfolio of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will not be
impacted by adverse conditions in the financial markets, which may require the Company in the
future to record an impairment charge for credit losses which could adversely impact its financial
results.
The estimated fair value of cash equivalents and marketable securities classified by date of
contractual maturity and the associated unrealized loss, net, at March 31, 2011 and December 31,
2010 are as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of |
|
|
Unrealized Loss, net |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
|
|
|
|
Contractual maturity: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Due within one year |
|
$ |
499,034 |
|
|
$ |
494,905 |
|
|
$ |
(74 |
) |
|
$ |
(72 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12
See Note 14, Fair Value of Financial Instruments, for fair value discussion regarding the
Companys cash equivalents and marketable securities.
7. Commitments and Contingencies
On December 15, 2009, the Company entered into a definitive triple net space lease agreement
with MT SPE, LLC (the Landlord) whereby it leases approximately 125,000 square feet of office
space located at 1050 Enterprise Way in Sunnyvale, California (the Sunnyvale Lease). The office
space is used for the Companys corporate headquarters, as well as engineering, marketing and
administrative operations and activities. The Company moved to the new premises in the fourth
quarter of 2010 following substantial completion of leasehold improvements. The Sunnyvale Lease has
a term of 120 months from the commencement date. The initial annual base rent is $3.7 million,
subject to a full abatement of rent for the first six months of the Sunnyvale Lease term, but with
the rent for the seventh month paid in December 2009 in order to gain access to the building. The
annual base rent increases each year to certain fixed amounts over the course of the term as set
forth in the Sunnyvale Lease and will be $4.8 million in the tenth year. In addition to the base
rent, the Company also pays operating expenses, insurance expenses, real estate taxes and a
management fee. The Company has two options to extend the Sunnyvale Lease for a period of 60 months
each and a one-time option to terminate the Sunnyvale Lease after 84 months in exchange for an
early termination fee.
Since certain improvements to be constructed by the Company are considered structural in
nature and the Company is responsible for any cost overruns, for accounting purposes, the Company
is treated in substance as the owner of the construction project during the construction period.
Accordingly, as of December 31, 2009, the Company has capitalized $25.1 million in property, plant
and equipment based on the estimated fair value of the portion of the unfinished building along
with a corresponding financing obligation for the same amount.
Following substantial completion of construction in the fourth quarter of 2010, the Company
occupied the building. At completion, the Company concluded that it retained sufficient continuing
involvement to preclude de-recognition of the building under the FASB authoritative guidance
applicable to the sale leasebacks of real estate. As such, the Company continues to account for the
building as owned real estate and to record an imputed financing obligation for its obligation to
the legal owner. In addition, the Company capitalized $1.5 million of interest on the building with
a corresponding imputed financing obligation for the same amount.
Pursuant to the terms of the Sunnyvale Lease, the landlord has agreed to reimburse the Company
approximately $9.1 million, of which $0.3 million was received in 2010 and $6.7 million was
received in the first quarter of 2011. The Company expects the remaining $2.1 million to be
received in second quarter of 2011. The Company recognized the $7.0 million reimbursement as
additional imputed financing obligation under the FASB authoritative guidance as such payment from
the landlord is deemed to be an imputed financing obligation. Monthly lease payments on the
facility are allocated between the land element of the lease (which is accounted for as an
operating lease) and the imputed financing obligation. The imputed financing obligation is
amortized using the effective interest method and the interest rate determined in accordance with
the requirements of sale leaseback accounting. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, the
Company recognized in its statement of operations $0.7 million of interest expense in connection
with the imputed financing obligation. At March 31, 2011, the imputed financing obligation balance
in connection with the new facility was $33.6 million which was classified under long-term imputed
financing obligation. At the end of the initial ten year lease term, should the Company decide not
to renew the lease, the Company would reverse the equal amounts of the net book value of the
building and the corresponding imputed financing obligation.
As of March 31, 2011, the Companys material contractual obligations are (in thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Remainder |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
of 2011 |
|
|
2012 |
|
|
2013 |
|
|
2014 |
|
|
2015 |
|
|
Thereafter |
|
Contractual obligations (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Imputed financing obligation |
|
$ |
48,710 |
|
|
$ |
3,615 |
|
|
$ |
4,914 |
|
|
$ |
5,035 |
|
|
$ |
5,155 |
|
|
$ |
5,275 |
|
|
$ |
24,716 |
|
Leases |
|
|
4,791 |
|
|
|
2,086 |
|
|
|
1,656 |
|
|
|
371 |
|
|
|
357 |
|
|
|
321 |
|
|
|
|
|
Software licenses (2) |
|
|
5,088 |
|
|
|
2,699 |
|
|
|
2,189 |
|
|
|
200 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Convertible notes |
|
|
172,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
172,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest payments related to
convertible notes |
|
|
30,188 |
|
|
|
8,625 |
|
|
|
8,625 |
|
|
|
8,625 |
|
|
|
4,313 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
261,277 |
|
|
$ |
17,025 |
|
|
$ |
17,384 |
|
|
$ |
14,231 |
|
|
$ |
182,325 |
|
|
$ |
5,596 |
|
|
$ |
24,716 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
13
|
|
|
(1) |
|
The above table does not reflect possible payments in connection with
uncertain tax benefits of approximately $13.1 million including $8.4
million recorded as a reduction of long-term deferred tax assets and
$4.7 million in long-term income taxes payable, as of March 31, 2011.
As noted below in Note 9, Income Taxes, although it is possible that
some of the unrecognized tax benefits could be settled within the next
12 months, the Company cannot reasonably estimate the outcome at this
time. The above table does not reflect possible payments in connection
with the contingently redeemable common stock. |
|
(2) |
|
The Company has commitments with various software vendors for
non-cancellable license agreements that generally have terms longer
than one year. The above table summarizes those contractual
obligations as of March 31, 2011 which are also listed on the
Companys balance sheet under current and other long-term liabilities. |
Rent expense was approximately $0.6 million and $1.8 million for the three months ended March
31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.
Deferred rent of $0.5 million as of March 31, 2011 was included primarily in other long-term
liabilities. Deferred rent of $0.5 million as of December 31, 2010 was included primarily in other
long-term liabilities.
Indemnifications
The Company enters into standard license agreements in the ordinary course of business.
Although the Company does not indemnify most of its customers, there are times when an
indemnification is a necessary means of doing business. Indemnifications cover customers for losses
suffered or incurred by them as a result of any patent, copyright, or other intellectual property
infringement claim by any third party with respect to the Companys products. The maximum amount of
indemnification the Company could be required to make under these agreements is generally limited
to fees received by the Company.
Several securities fraud class actions, private lawsuits and shareholder derivative actions
were filed in state and federal courts against certain of the Companys current and former officers
and directors related to the stock option granting actions. As permitted under Delaware law, the
Company has agreements whereby its officers and directors are indemnified for certain events or
occurrences while the officer or director is, or was serving, at the Companys request in such
capacity. The term of the indemnification period is for the officers or directors term in such
capacity. The maximum potential amount of future payments the Company could be required to make
under these indemnification agreements is unlimited. The Company has a director and officer
insurance policy that reduces the Companys exposure and enables the Company to recover a portion
of future amounts to be paid. As a result of these indemnification agreements, the Company
continues to make payments on behalf of current and former officers. As of March 31, 2011 and 2010,
the Company had made cumulative payments of approximately $16.9 million and $12.1 million,
respectively, on their behalf. These payments were recorded under costs of restatement and related
legal activities in the consolidated statements of operations.
8. Stockholders Equity and Contingently Redeemable Common Stock
Contingently Redeemable Common Stock
On January 19, 2010, pursuant to the terms of a Stock Purchase Agreement, Samsung purchased
for cash from the Company 9.6 million shares of common stock of
the Company (theShares) with certain restrictions and put rights. The issuance of the Shares by the
Company to Samsung was made through a private transaction. The Stock Purchase Agreement provides
Samsung a one-time put right, beginning 18 months after the date of the Stock Purchase Agreement
and extending to 19 months after the date of the Stock Purchase Agreement, to elect to put back to
the Company up to 4.8 million of the Shares at the original issue price of $20.885 per share (for
an aggregate purchase price of up to $100.0 million). The 4.8 million shares have been recorded as
contingently redeemable common stock on the consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2011 and
December 31, 2010.
The Stock Purchase Agreement prohibits the transfer of the Shares by Samsung for 18 months
after the date of the Stock Purchase Agreement, subject to certain exceptions. After expiration of
the transfer restriction period on July 18, 2011, the Stock Purchase Agreement provides that
Samsung may transfer a limited number of shares on a daily basis, provides the Company with a right
of first offer for proposed transfers above such daily limits, and, if no sale occurs to the
Company under the right of first offer, allows Samsung to transfer the Shares. Under the Stock
Purchase Agreement, the Company has also agreed that after the transfer restriction period, Samsung
will have certain rights to register the Shares for sale under the securities laws of the United
States, subject to customary terms and conditions.
14
Share Repurchase Program
During the three months ended March 31, 2011, the Company did not repurchase any shares of its
Common Stock. As of March 31, 2011, the Company had repurchased a cumulative total of approximately
26.3 million shares of its Common Stock with an aggregate price of approximately $428.9 million
since the commencement of the program in 2001. As of March 31, 2011, there remained an outstanding
authorization to repurchase approximately 5.2 million shares of the Companys outstanding Common
Stock.
The Company records stock repurchases as a reduction to stockholders equity. The Company
records a portion of the purchase price of the repurchased shares as an increase to accumulated
deficit when the price of the shares repurchased exceeds the average original proceeds per share
received from the issuance of Common Stock.
9. Income Taxes
The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2011 is 266.1%, which is higher
than the U.S. statutory tax rate due primarily to foreign withholding taxes, a full valuation
allowance on our U.S. net deferred tax assets and foreign losses with no current tax benefit
recorded, partially offset by foreign tax credits. The effective tax rate was also significantly
impacted by the withholding taxes levied on the gross Samsung royalty income. The effective tax
rate for the three months ended March 31, 2010 was 23.2% which is lower than the U.S. statutory tax
rate applied to the Companys income before taxes primarily due to a full valuation allowance on
its U.S. net deferred tax assets, partially offset by foreign withholding taxes and U.S. and state
alternative minimum taxes.
During the three months ended March 31, 2011, the Company paid withholding taxes of $4.1
million to the Korean tax authorities related to the payments received under the Settlement
Agreement and License Agreement with Samsung. The Company recorded a provision for income taxes of
$6.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2011, which is primarily comprised of the Korean
withholding taxes and other foreign taxes. As the Company continues to maintain a valuation
allowance against its U.S. deferred tax assets, the Companys tax provision is based primarily on
the Korean withholding taxes, other foreign taxes and state taxes.
As of March 31, 2011, the Companys consolidated balance sheets included net deferred tax
assets, before valuation allowance, of approximately $88.3 million, which consists of net operating
loss carryovers, tax credit carryovers, depreciation and amortization, employee stock-based
compensation expenses and certain liabilities, partially reduced by deferred tax liabilities
associated with the convertible debt instruments that may be settled in cash upon conversion,
including partial cash settlements. As of March 31, 2011, a full valuation allowance has been
recorded against the U.S. deferred tax assets. During the three months ended March 31, 2011, the
Company increased its deferred tax assets from $78.3 million to approximately $88.3 million with a
corresponding increase to the valuation allowance related to its U.S. deferred tax assets. This
increase of the valuation allowance is primarily related to the increase in temporary differences
and credits for the three months ended March 31, 2011. Management periodically evaluates the
realizability of the Companys net deferred tax assets based on all available evidence, both
positive and negative. The realization of net deferred tax assets is solely dependent on the
Companys ability to generate sufficient future taxable income during periods prior to the
expiration of tax statutes to fully utilize these assets. The Company intends to maintain the
remaining valuation allowance until sufficient positive evidence exists to support reversal of the
valuation allowance.
The Company maintains liabilities for uncertain tax positions within its long-term income
taxes payable accounts. These liabilities involve judgment and estimation and are monitored by
management based on the best information available including changes in tax regulations, the
outcome of relevant court cases and other information.
As of March 31, 2011, the Company had approximately $13.1 million of unrecognized tax
benefits, including $8.4 million recorded as a reduction of long-term deferred tax assets and
including $4.7 million in long-term income taxes payable. If recognized, approximately $2.8 million
would be recorded as an income tax benefit. No benefit would be recorded for the remaining
unrecognized tax benefits as the recognition would require a corresponding increase in the
valuation allowance. As of December 31, 2010, the Company had $11.8 million of unrecognized tax
benefits, including $7.2 million recorded as a reduction of long-term deferred tax assets and $4.6
million in long-term income taxes payable.
Although it is possible that some of the unrecognized tax benefits could be settled within the
next 12 months, the Company cannot reasonably estimate the outcome at this time.
The Company recognizes interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions as a
component of the income tax provision (benefit). At March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010, an
insignificant amount of interest and penalties are included in long-term income taxes payable.
15
Rambus files U.S. federal income tax returns as well as income tax returns in various states
and foreign jurisdictions. The Company is subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) for tax years ended 2007 through 2009. The Company is also subject to examination by the
State of California for tax years ended 2006 through 2009. In addition, any R&D credit carryforward
or net operating loss carryforward generated in prior years and utilized in these or future years
may also be subject to examination by the IRS and the State of California. The Company is also
subject to examination in various other foreign jurisdictions, including India, for various
periods.
The Companys future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being higher
than anticipated in countries where the Company has higher statutory rates or lower than
anticipated in countries where it has lower statutory rates, by changes in valuation of its
deferred tax assets and liabilities, or by changes in tax laws or interpretations of those laws.
10. Earnings (Loss) Per Share
Basic earnings (loss) per share is calculated by dividing the net income (loss) by the
weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings (loss) per
share is calculated by dividing the earnings (loss) by the weighted average number of common shares
and potentially dilutive securities outstanding during the period. Potentially dilutive common
shares consist of incremental common shares issuable upon exercise of stock options, employee stock
purchases, restricted stock and restricted stock units and shares issuable upon the conversion of
convertible notes. The dilutive effect of outstanding shares is reflected in diluted earnings per
share by application of the treasury stock method. This method includes consideration of the
amounts to be paid by the employees, the amount of excess tax benefits that would be recognized in
equity if the instrument was exercised and the amount of unrecognized stock-based compensation
related to future services. No potential dilutive common shares are included in the computation of
any diluted per share amount when a net loss is reported. The Company reported approximately 4.8
million shares issued to Samsung as contingently redeemable common stock due to the contractual put
rights associated with those shares. As such, the Company uses the two-class method for reporting
earnings per share.
The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted income (loss) per share:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended March 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
(In thousands, except per share amounts) |
|
|
|
CRCS* |
|
|
Other CS** |
|
|
CRCS* |
|
|
Other CS** |
|
Basic net income (loss) per share: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Numerator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Allocation of undistributed earnings |
|
$ |
(188 |
) |
|
$ |
(4,042 |
) |
|
$ |
5,109 |
|
|
$ |
145,790 |
|
Denominator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Weighted-average common shares outstanding |
|
|
4,788 |
|
|
|
102,825 |
|
|
|
3,830 |
|
|
|
109,302 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic net income (loss) per share |
|
$ |
(0.04 |
) |
|
$ |
(0.04 |
) |
|
$ |
1.33 |
|
|
$ |
1.33 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diluted net income (loss) per share: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Numerator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Allocation of undistributed earnings for basic computation |
|
$ |
(188 |
) |
|
$ |
(4,042 |
) |
|
$ |
5,109 |
|
|
$ |
145,790 |
|
Reallocation of undistributed earnings |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(188 |
) |
|
|
188 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Allocation of undistributed earnings for diluted computation |
|
$ |
(188 |
) |
|
$ |
(4,042 |
) |
|
$ |
4,921 |
|
|
$ |
145,978 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Denominator: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of shares used in basic computation |
|
|
4,788 |
|
|
|
102,825 |
|
|
|
3,830 |
|
|
|
109,302 |
|
Dilutive potential shares from stock options, ESPP,
Convertible notes and nonvested equity stock and stock
units |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,331 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number of shares used in diluted computation |
|
|
4,788 |
|
|
|
102,825 |
|
|
|
3,830 |
|
|
|
113,633 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diluted net income (loss) per share |
|
$ |
(0.04 |
) |
|
$ |
(0.04 |
) |
|
$ |
1.28 |
|
|
$ |
1.28 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
CRCS Contingently Redeemable Common Stock |
|
** |
|
Other CS Common Stock other than CRCS |
For the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, options to purchase approximately 7.8
million and 7.1 million shares, respectively, were excluded from the calculation because they were
anti-dilutive after considering proceeds from exercise, taxes and related unrecognized stock-based
compensation expense. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, an additional 3.0 million shares,
16
including nonvested equity stock and stock units, that would be dilutive have been excluded
from the weighted average dilutive shares because there was a net loss for the period.
11. Business Segments and Major Customers
Prior to 2010, Rambus operated in a single industry segment, the design, development and
licensing of memory and logic interfaces, lighting and optoelectronics, and other technologies. In
2010, the Company reorganized, and as a result, starting at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010,
Rambus has two business groups: SBG which focuses on the design, development and licensing of
semiconductor technology, and NBG which focuses on the design, development and licensing of
lighting and display technologies, and mobile and other technologies. These two business groups
were considered operating segments but only SBG was considered a reportable segment because NBG did
not meet the quantitative thresholds for disclosure as a reportable segment.
The Company evaluates the performance of its segments based on segment operating income
(loss). Segment operating income (loss) does not include the allocation of any corporate functions
(including human resources, facilities, legal, finance, information technology, corporate
development, general administration, corporate licensing and marketing expenses and corporate
research and development expenses and cost of restatement) to the segments. Certain expenses are
not allocated to the operating segments because they are not considered in evaluating the segments
operating performance. Such unallocated expenses include stock-based compensation and expenses
associated with depreciation and amortization which were managed at the corporate level.
Reconciling Items category includes these unallocated expenses and the corporate expenses.
The table below presents reported segment revenues, and reported segment operating income
(loss).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2011 |
|
|
|
SBG |
|
|
Other |
|
|
Total |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Revenues (1) |
|
$ |
62,376 |
|
|
$ |
151 |
|
|
$ |
62,527 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gain from settlement (1) |
|
$ |
6,200 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
6,200 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Segment operating income (loss) (1) |
|
$ |
56,620 |
|
|
$ |
(3,594 |
) |
|
$ |
53,026 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reconciling items |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(44,656 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total operating income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
8,370 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) |
|
Disclosure of prior period segment information was not provided as the revenues and operating
loss for the other operating segment was not material. |
The Companys chief operating decision maker is the executive management team and it does not
review information regarding assets on an operating segment basis. Additionally, the Company does
not record intersegment revenue or expense.
The table below presents a reconciliation of reportable segment profit to the Companys
consolidated income before income taxes. The restatement and disclosure of the segment information
for the previous period is not material.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Three Months |
|
|
|
Ended |
|
(in thousands) |
|
March 31, 2011 |
|
Total operating income for reportable segments |
|
$ |
56,620 |
|
Other operating loss |
|
|
(3,594 |
) |
Unallocated amounts: |
|
|
|
|
Corporate expenses |
|
|
(32,584 |
) |
Unallocated expenses |
|
|
(12,072 |
) |
Interest and other expense, net |
|
|
(5,824 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Income before income taxes |
|
$ |
2,546 |
|
|
|
|
|
Four customers accounted for 31%, 14%, 11% and 11%, respectively, of revenue in the three
months ended March 31, 2011. One customer accounted for 85% of revenue in the three months ended
March 31, 2010.
17
Rambus licenses its technologies and patents to customers in multiple geographic regions.
Revenue from customers in the
following geographic regions was recognized as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Japan |
|
$ |
29,601 |
|
|
$ |
19,036 |
|
Korea |
|
|
19,144 |
|
|
|
137,166 |
|
North America |
|
|
13,627 |
|
|
|
5,485 |
|
Asia-Other |
|
|
148 |
|
|
|
45 |
|
Europe |
|
|
7 |
|
|
|
132 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
62,527 |
|
|
$ |
161,864 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At March 31, 2011, of the $70.5 million of total property, plant and equipment, approximately
$69.5 million are located in the United States, $0.9 million are located in India and $0.1 million
are located in other foreign locations. At December 31, 2010, of the $67.8 million of total
property, plant and equipment, approximately $66.7 million were located in the United States, $1.0
million were located in India and $0.1 million were located in other foreign locations.
12. Amortizable Intangible Assets
The components of the Companys intangible assets as of March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010
were as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of March 31, 2011 |
|
|
|
Gross Carrying |
|
|
Accumulated |
|
|
Net Carrying |
|
|
|
Amount |
|
|
Amortization |
|
|
Amount |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Patents (useful life of 3 to 10 years) |
|
$ |
24,433 |
|
|
$ |
(10,258 |
) |
|
$ |
14,175 |
|
Customer contracts and contractual relationships (useful life of 1 to 10 years) |
|
|
4,050 |
|
|
|
(3,223 |
) |
|
|
827 |
|
Existing technology (useful life of 3 to 7 years) |
|
|
29,950 |
|
|
|
(5,945 |
) |
|
|
24,005 |
|
Intellectual property (useful life of 4 years) |
|
|
10,384 |
|
|
|
(10,384 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Non-competition agreement (useful life of 3 years) |
|
|
100 |
|
|
|
(100 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total intangible assets |
|
$ |
68,917 |
|
|
$ |
(29,910 |
) |
|
$ |
39,007 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of December 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
Gross Carrying |
|
|
Accumulated |
|
|
Net Carrying |
|
|
|
Amount |
|
|
Amortization |
|
|
Amount |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Patents (useful life of 3 to 10 years) |
|
$ |
24,433 |
|
|
$ |
(9,361 |
) |
|
$ |
15,072 |
|
Customer contracts and contractual relationships (useful life of 1 to 10 years) |
|
|
4,050 |
|
|
|
(3,127 |
) |
|
|
923 |
|
Existing technology (useful life of 3 to 7 years) |
|
|
29,950 |
|
|
|
(4,959 |
) |
|
|
24,991 |
|
Intellectual property (useful life of 4 years) |
|
|
10,384 |
|
|
|
(10,384 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Non-competition agreement (useful life of 3 years) |
|
|
100 |
|
|
|
(100 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total intangible assets |
|
$ |
68,917 |
|
|
$ |
(27,931 |
) |
|
$ |
40,986 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortization expense for intangible assets for the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010
was $2.0 million and $1.1 million, respectively.
During the first quarter of 2010, the Company purchased patents related to memory and other
applications in an asset acquisition for approximately $1.5 million.
The estimated future amortization expense of intangible assets as of March 31, 2011 was as
follows (amounts in thousands):
18
|
|
|
|
|
Years Ending December 31: |
|
Amount |
|
2011(remaining 9 months) |
|
$ |
5,648 |
|
2012 |
|
|
7,348 |
|
2013 |
|
|
6,987 |
|
2014 |
|
|
5,939 |
|
2015 |
|
|
5,722 |
|
Thereafter |
|
|
7,363 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$ |
39,007 |
|
|
|
|
|
13. Litigation and Asserted Claims
Hynix Litigation
U.S District Court of the Northern District of California
On August 29, 2000, Hynix (formerly Hyundai) and various subsidiaries filed suit against
Rambus in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint, as
amended and narrowed through motion practice, asserts claims for fraud, violations of federal
antitrust laws and deceptive practices in connection with Rambus participation in a standards
setting organization called JEDEC, and seeks a declaratory judgment that the Rambus patents-in-suit
are unenforceable, invalid and not infringed by Hynix, compensatory and punitive damages, and
attorneys fees. Rambus denied Hynixs claims and filed counterclaims for patent infringement
against Hynix.
The case was divided into three phases. In the first phase, Hynix tried its unclean hands
defense beginning on October 17, 2005 and concluding on November 1, 2005. In its January 4, 2006
Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, the court held that Hynixs unclean hands defense failed.
Among other things, the court found that Rambus did not adopt its document retention policy in bad
faith, did not engage in unlawful spoliation of evidence, and that while Rambus disposed of some
relevant documents pursuant to its document retention policy, Hynix was not prejudiced by the
destruction of Rambus documents. On January 19, 2009, Hynix filed a motion for reconsideration of
the courts unclean hands order and for summary judgment on the ground that the decision by the
Delaware court in the pending Micron-Rambus litigation (described below) should be given preclusive
effect. In its motion Hynix requested alternatively that the courts unclean hands order be
certified for appeal and that the remainder of the case be stayed. Rambus filed an opposition to
Hynixs motion on January 26, 2009, and a hearing was held on January 30, 2009. On February 3,
2009, the court denied Hynixs motions and restated its conclusions that Rambus had not anticipated
litigation until late 1999 and that Hynix had not demonstrated any prejudice from any alleged
destruction of evidence.
The second phase of the Hynix-Rambus trial on patent infringement, validity and damages
began on March 15, 2006, and was submitted to the jury on April 13, 2006. On April 24, 2006, the
jury returned a verdict in favor of Rambus on all issues and awarded Rambus a total of
approximately $307 million in damages, excluding prejudgment interest. Specifically, the jury found
that each of the ten selected patent claims was supported by the written description, and was not
anticipated or rendered obvious by prior art; therefore, none of the patent claims was invalid. The
jury also found that Hynix infringed all eight of the patent claims for which the jury was asked to
determine infringement; the court had previously determined on summary judgment that Hynix
infringed the other two claims at issue in the trial. On July 14, 2006, the court granted Hynixs
motion for a new trial on the issue of damages unless Rambus agreed to a reduction of the total
jury award to approximately $134 million. The court found that the record supported a maximum
royalty rate of 1% for SDR SDRAM and 4.25% for DDR SDRAM, which the court applied to the stipulated
U.S. sales of infringing Hynix products through December 31, 2005. On July 27, 2006, Rambus elected
remittitur of the jurys award to approximately $134 million. On August 30, 2006, the court awarded
Rambus prejudgment interest for the period June 23, 2000 through December 31, 2005. Hynix filed a
motion on July 7, 2008 to reduce the amount of remitted damages and any supplemental damages that
the court may award, as well as to limit the products that could be affected by any injunction that
the court may grant, on the grounds of patent exhaustion. Following a hearing on August 29, 2008,
the court denied Hynixs motion. In separate orders issued December 2, 2008, January 16, 2009, and
January 27, 2009, the court denied Hynixs post-trial motions for judgment as a matter of law and
new trial on infringement and validity.
On June 24, 2008, the court heard oral argument on Rambus motion to supplement the damages
award and for equitable relief related to Hynixs infringement of Rambus patents. On February 23,
2009, the court issued an order (1) granting Rambus motion for supplemental damages and
prejudgment interest for the period after December 31, 2005, at the same rates ordered for the
prior period; (2) denying Rambus motion for an injunction; and (3) ordering the parties to begin
negotiations regarding the terms of a compulsory license regarding Hynixs continued manufacture,
use, and sale of infringing devices.
19
The third phase of the Hynix-Rambus trial involved Hynixs affirmative JEDEC-related antitrust
and fraud allegations against Rambus. On April 24, 2007, the court ordered a coordinated trial of
certain common JEDEC-related claims alleged by the manufacturer parties (i.e., Hynix, Micron, Nanya
and Samsung) and defenses asserted by Rambus in Hynix v Rambus, Case No. C 00-20905 RMW, and three
other cases then pending before the same court (Rambus Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. et al.,
Case No. 05-02298 RMW, Rambus Inc. v. Hynix Semiconductor Inc., et al., Case No. 05-00334, and
Rambus Inc. v. Micron Technology, Inc., et al., Case No. C 06-00244 RMW, each described in further
detail below). On December 14, 2007, the court excused Samsung from the coordinated trial based on
Samsungs agreement to certain conditions, including trial of its claims against Rambus by the
court within six months following the conclusion of the coordinated trial. The coordinated trial
involving Rambus, Hynix, Micron and Nanya began on January 29, 2008, and was submitted to the jury
on March 25, 2008. On March 26, 2008, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Rambus and against
Hynix, Micron, and Nanya on each of their claims. Specifically, the jury found that Hynix, Micron,
and Nanya failed to meet their burden of proving that: (1) Rambus engaged in anticompetitive
conduct; (2) Rambus made important representations that it did not have any intellectual property
pertaining to the work of JEDEC and intended or reasonably expected that the representations would
be heard by or repeated to others including Hynix, Micron or Nanya; (3) Rambus uttered deceptive
half-truths about its intellectual property coverage or potential coverage of products compliant
with synchronous DRAM standards then being considered by JEDEC by disclosing some facts but failing
to disclose other important facts; or (4) JEDEC members shared a clearly defined expectation that
members would disclose relevant knowledge they had about patent applications or the intent to file
patent applications on technology being considered for adoption as a JEDEC standard. Hynix, Micron,
and Nanya filed motions for a new trial and for judgment on certain of their equitable claims and
defenses. A hearing on those motions was held on May 1, 2008. A further hearing on the equitable
claims and defenses was held on May 27, 2008. On July 24, 2008, the court issued an order denying
Hynix, Micron, and Nanyas motions for new trial.
On March 3, 2009, the court issued an order rejecting Hynix, Micron, and Nanyas equitable
claims and defenses that had been tried during the coordinated trial. The court concluded (among
other things) that (1) Rambus did not have an obligation to disclose pending or anticipated patent
applications and had sound reasons for not doing so; (2) the evidence supported the jurys finding
that JEDEC members did not share a clearly defined expectation that members would disclose relevant
knowledge they had about patent applications or the intent to file patent applications on
technology being considered for adoption as a JEDEC standard; (3) the written JEDEC disclosure
policies did not clearly require members to disclose information about patent applications and the
intent to file patent applications in the future; (4) there was no clearly understood or legally
enforceable agreement of JEDEC members to disclose information about patent applications or the
intent to seek patents relevant to standards being discussed at JEDEC; (5) during the time Rambus
attended JEDEC meetings, Rambus did not have any patent application pending that covered a JEDEC
standard, and none of the patents in suit was applied for until well after Rambus resigned from
JEDEC; (6) Rambuss conduct at JEDEC did not constitute an estoppel or waiver of its rights to
enforce its patents; (7) Hynix, Micron, and Nanya failed to carry their burden to prove their
asserted waiver and estoppel defenses not directly based on Rambuss conduct at JEDEC; (8) the
evidence did not support a finding of any material misrepresentation, half truths or fraudulent
concealment by Rambus related to JEDEC upon which Nanya relied; (9) the manufacturers failed to
establish that Rambus violated unfair competition law by its conduct before JEDEC; (10) the
evidence related to Rambuss patent prosecution did not establish that Rambus unduly delayed in
prosecuting the claims in suit; (11) Rambus did not unreasonably delay bringing its patent
infringement claims; and (12) there is no basis for any unclean hands defense or unenforceability
claim arising from Rambuss conduct.
On March 10, 2009, the court entered final judgment against Hynix in the amount of
approximately $397 million as follows: approximately $134 million for infringement through December
31, 2005; approximately $215 million for infringement from January 1, 2006 through January 31,
2009; and approximately $48 million in pre-judgment interest. Post-judgment interest is accruing at
the statutory rate. In addition, the judgment orders Hynix to pay Rambus royalties on net sales for
U.S. infringement after January 31, 2009 and before April 18, 2010 of 1% for SDR SDRAM and 4.25%
for DDR DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, GDDR2 and GDDR3 SDRAM memory devices. On April 9, 2009, Rambus submitted
its cost bill in the amount of approximately $0.85 million. On March 24, 2009, Hynix filed a motion
under Rule 62 seeking relief from the requirement that it post a supersedeas bond in the full
amount of the final judgment in order to stay its execution pending an appeal. Rambus filed a brief
opposing Hynixs motion on April 10, 2009. A hearing on Hynixs motion was heard on May 8, 2009. On
May 14, 2009, the court granted Hynixs motion in part and ordered that execution of the judgment
be stayed on the condition that, within 45 days, Hynix post a supersedeas bond in the amount of
$250 million and provide Rambus with documentation establishing a lien in Rambuss favor on
property owned by Hynix in Korea in the amount of the judgment not covered by the supersedeas bond.
The court also ordered that Hynix pay the ongoing royalties set forth in the final judgment into an
escrow account. Hynix posted the $250 million supersedeas bond on June 26, 2009. On September 17,
2010, the court granted Rambuss motion for reconsideration of the portion of its order allowing
Hynix to establish a lien in lieu of posting a bond for a portion of the judgment; on October 18,
2010, Hynix posted a bond in the full amount of the judgment plus accrued post-judgment interest in
the total amount of $401.2 million. Hynix has deposited amounts into the escrow account pursuant to
the courts order regarding ongoing royalties. The escrowed funds will be released only upon
agreement of the parties or further court order in
20
accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the escrow arrangement. On March 8,
2010, the court awarded costs to Rambus in the amount of approximately $0.76 million. That amount
plus accrued interest has been deposited by Hynix into the same escrow account into which ongoing
royalties have been deposited.
On April 6, 2009, Hynix filed its notice of appeal. On April 17, 2009, Rambus filed its notice
of cross appeal. Hynix filed a motion to dismiss Rambus cross-appeal on July 1, 2009, and Rambus
filed an opposition to Hynixs motion on July 15, 2009. On July 23, 2009, Rambus and Hynix filed a
joint motion to assign this appeal to the same panel hearing the appeal in the Micron Delaware case
(discussed below) and to coordinate oral arguments of the two appeals. On August 17, 2009, the
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an order 1) granting the joint motion
to coordinate oral arguments of the two appeals; and 2) denying Hynixs motion to dismiss Rambuss
cross-appeal. On August 31, 2009, Hynix filed its opening brief. On December 7, 2009, Rambus filed
its answering and opening cross-appeal brief. Hynixs reply and answering brief was filed February
16, 2010, and Rambuss reply was filed February 23, 2010. Oral argument was held on April 5, 2010.
On June 9, 2010, the Federal Circuit issued an order that it would rehear oral argument in the
coordinated appeals on the basis of the parties original briefs. Oral argument was reheard by an
expanded panel of five judges on October 6, 2010. No decision has issued to date.
Micron Litigation
U.S District Court in Delaware: Case No. 00-792-SLR
On August 28, 2000, Micron filed suit against Rambus in the U.S. District Court for Delaware.
The suit asserts violations of federal antitrust laws, deceptive trade practices, breach of
contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation in connection with Rambus participation in JEDEC.
Micron seeks a declaration of monopolization by Rambus, compensatory and punitive damages,
attorneys fees, a declaratory judgment that eight Rambus patents are invalid and not infringed,
and the award to Micron of a royalty-free license to the Rambus patents. Rambus has filed an answer
and counterclaims disputing Microns claims and asserting infringement by Micron of 12 U.S.
patents.
This case has been divided into three phases in the same general order as in the Hynix
00-20905 action: (1) unclean hands; (2) patent infringement; and (3) antitrust, equitable estoppel,
and other JEDEC-related issues. A bench trial on Microns unclean hands defense began on November
8, 2007 and concluded on November 15, 2007. The court ordered post-trial briefing on the issue of
when Rambus became obligated to preserve documents because it anticipated litigation. A hearing on
that issue was held on May 20, 2008. The court ordered further post-trial briefing on the remaining
issues from the unclean hands trial, and a hearing on those issues was held on September 19, 2008.
On January 9, 2009, the court issued an opinion in which it determined that Rambus had engaged
in spoliation of evidence by failing to suspend general implementation of a document retention
policy after the point at which the court determined that Rambus should have known litigation was
reasonably foreseeable. The court issued an accompanying order declaring the 12 patents in suit
unenforceable against Micron (the Delaware Order). On February 9, 2009, the court stayed all
other proceedings pending appeal of the Delaware Order. On February 10, 2009, judgment was entered
against Rambus and in favor of Micron on Rambus patent infringement claims and Microns
corresponding claims for declaratory relief. On March 11, 2009, Rambus filed its notice of appeal.
Rambus filed its opening brief on July 2, 2009. On July 24, 2009, Rambus filed a motion to assign
this appeal to the same panel hearing the appeal in the Hynix case (discussed above) and to
coordinate oral arguments of the two appeals. On August 8, 2009, Micron filed an opposition to
Rambuss motion to coordinate. On August 17, 2009, the Federal Circuit issued an order granting
Rambuss motion to coordinate oral arguments of the two appeals. On August 28, 2009, Micron filed
its answering brief. On October 14, 2009, Rambus filed its reply brief. Oral argument was held on
April 5, 2010. On June 9, 2010, the Federal Circuit issued an order that it would rehear oral
argument in the coordinated appeals on the basis of the parties original briefs. Oral argument was
reheard by an expanded panel of five judges on October 6, 2010. No decision has issued to date.
U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California
On January 13, 2006, Rambus filed suit against Micron in the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California. Rambus alleges that 14 Rambus patents are infringed by Microns
DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3, and other advanced memory products. Rambus seeks compensatory and punitive
damages, attorneys fees, and injunctive relief. Micron has denied Rambus allegations and is
alleging counterclaims for violations of federal antitrust laws, unfair trade practices, equitable
estoppel, fraud and negligent misrepresentation in connection with Rambus participation in JEDEC.
Micron seeks a declaration of monopolization by Rambus, injunctive relief, compensatory and
punitive damages, attorneys fees, and a declaratory judgment of invalidity, unenforceability, and
noninfringement of the 14 patents in suit.
21
As explained above, the court ordered a coordinated trial (without Samsung) of certain common
JEDEC-related claims and defenses asserted in Hynix v Rambus, Case No. C 00-20905 RMW, Rambus Inc.
v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. et al., Case No. 05-02298 RMW, Rambus Inc. v. Hynix Semiconductor
Inc., et al., Case No. 05-00334, and Rambus Inc. v. Micron Technology, Inc., et al., Case No. C
06-00244 RMW. The coordinated trial involving Rambus, Hynix, Micron and Nanya began on January 29,
2008, and was submitted to the jury on March 25, 2008. On March 26, 2008, the jury returned a
verdict in favor of Rambus and against Hynix, Micron, and Nanya on each of their claims.
Specifically, the jury found that Hynix, Micron, and Nanya failed to meet their burden of proving
that: (1) Rambus engaged in anticompetitive conduct; (2) Rambus made important representations that
it did not have any intellectual property pertaining to the work of JEDEC and intended or
reasonably expected that the representations would be heard by or repeated to others including
Hynix, Micron or Nanya; (3) Rambus uttered deceptive half-truths about its intellectual property
coverage or potential coverage of products compliant with synchronous DRAM standards then being
considered by JEDEC by disclosing some facts but failing to disclose other important facts; or (4)
JEDEC members shared a clearly defined expectation that members would disclose relevant knowledge
they had about patent applications or the intent to file patent applications on technology being
considered for adoption as a JEDEC standard. Hynix, Micron, and Nanya filed motions for a new trial
and for judgment on certain of their equitable claims and defenses. A hearing on those motions was
held on May 1, 2008. A further hearing on the equitable claims and defenses was held on May 27,
2008. On July 24, 2008, the court issued an order denying Hynix, Micron, and Nanyas motions for
new trial.
On March 3, 2009, the court issued an order rejecting Hynix, Micron, and Nanyas equitable
claims and defenses that had been tried during the coordinated trial. The court concluded (among
other things) that (1) Rambus did not have an obligation to disclose pending or anticipated patent
applications and had sound reasons for not doing so; (2) the evidence supported the jurys finding
that JEDEC members did not share a clearly defined expectation that members would disclose relevant
knowledge they had about patent applications or the intent to file patent applications on
technology being considered for adoption as a JEDEC standard; (3) the written JEDEC disclosure
policies did not clearly require members to disclose information about patent applications and the
intent to file patent applications in the future; (4) there was no clearly understood or legally
enforceable agreement of JEDEC members to disclose information about patent applications or the
intent to seek patents relevant to standards being discussed at JEDEC; (5) during the time Rambus
attended JEDEC meetings, Rambus did not have any patent application pending that covered a JEDEC
standard, and none of the patents in suit was applied for until well after Rambus resigned from
JEDEC; (6) Rambuss conduct at JEDEC did not constitute an estoppel or waiver of its rights to
enforce its patents; (7) Hynix, Micron, and Nanya failed to carry their burden to prove their
asserted waiver and estoppel defenses not directly based on Rambuss conduct at JEDEC; (8) the
evidence did not support a finding of any material misrepresentation, half truths or fraudulent
concealment by Rambus related to JEDEC upon which Nanya relied; (9) the manufacturers failed to
establish that Rambus violated unfair competition law by its conduct before JEDEC; (10) the
evidence related to Rambuss patent prosecution did not establish that Rambus unduly delayed in
prosecuting the claims in suit; (11) Rambus did not unreasonably delay bringing its patent
infringement claims; and (12) there is no basis for any unclean hands defense or unenforceability
claim arising from Rambuss conduct.
In these cases (except for the Hynix 00-20905 action), a hearing on claim construction and the
parties cross-motions for summary judgment on infringement and validity was held on June 4 and 5,
2008. On July 10, 2008, the court issued its claim construction order relating to the
Farmwald/Horowitz patents in suit and denied Hynix, Micron, Nanya, and Samsungs (collectively, the
Manufacturers) motions for summary judgment of noninfringement and invalidity based on their
proposed claim construction. The court issued claim construction orders relating to the Ware
patents in suit on July 25 and August 27, 2008, and denied the Manufacturers motion for summary
judgment of noninfringement of certain claims. On September 4, 2008, at the courts direction,
Rambus elected to proceed to trial on 12 patent claims, each from the Farmwald/Horowitz family. On
September 16, 2008, Rambus granted a covenant not to assert any claim of patent infringement
against the Manufacturers under the Ware patents in suit (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,493,789 and
6,496,897), and each partys claims relating to those patents were dismissed with prejudice. On
November 21, 2008, the court entered an order clarifying certain aspects of its July 10, 2008,
claim construction order. On November 24, 2008, the court granted Rambus motion for summary
judgment of direct infringement with respect to claim 16 of Rambus U.S. Patent No. 6,266,285 by
the Manufacturers DDR2, DDR3, gDDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4 memory chip products (except for Nanyas DDR3
memory chip products). In the same order, the court denied the remainder of Rambus motion for
summary judgment of infringement.
On January 19, 2009, Micron filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that the
Delaware Order should be given preclusive effect. Rambus filed an opposition to Microns motion on
January 26, 2009, and a hearing was held on January 30, 2009. On February 3, 2009, the court
entered a stay of this action pending resolution of Rambus appeal of the Delaware Order. Trial on
Rambus patent infringement claims has been postponed pending the Federal Circuits decisions in
the Micron and Hynix appeals described above.
22
European Patent Infringement Cases
In 2001, Rambus filed suit against Micron in Mannheim, Germany, for infringement of European
patent, EP 1 022 642. That suit has not been active. Two proceedings in Italy remain ongoing
relating to Rambuss claim that Micron is infringing European patent, EP 1 004 956, and Microns
purported claim resulting from a seizure of evidence in Italy in 2000 carried out by Rambus
pursuant to a court order.
DDR2, DDR3, gDDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4 Litigation (DDR2)
U.S District Court in the Northern District of California
On January 25, 2005, Rambus filed a patent infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for
the Northern District of California court against Hynix, Infineon, Nanya, and Inotera. Infineon and
Inotera were subsequently dismissed from this litigation as was Samsung which had been added as a
defendant. Rambus alleges that certain of its patents are infringed by certain of the defendants
SDRAM, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, gDDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4 and other advanced memory products. Hynix and Nanya
have denied Rambus claims and asserted counterclaims against Rambus for, among other things,
violations of federal antitrust laws, unfair trade practices, equitable estoppel, and fraud in
connection with Rambus participation in JEDEC.
As explained above, the court ordered a coordinated trial (without Samsung) of certain common
JEDEC-related claims and defenses asserted in Hynix v Rambus, Case No. C 00-20905 RMW, Rambus Inc.
v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. et al., Case No. 05-02298 RMW, Rambus Inc. v. Hynix Semiconductor
Inc., et al., Case No. 05-00334, and Rambus Inc. v. Micron Technology, Inc., et al., Case No. C
06-00244 RMW. The coordinated trial involving Rambus, Hynix, Micron and Nanya began on January 29,
2008, and was submitted to the jury on March 25, 2008. On March 26, 2008, the jury returned a
verdict in favor of Rambus and against Hynix, Micron, and Nanya on each of their claims.
Specifically, the jury found that Hynix, Micron, and Nanya failed to meet their burden of proving
that: (1) Rambus engaged in anticompetitive conduct; (2) Rambus made important representations that
it did not have any intellectual property pertaining to the work of JEDEC and intended or
reasonably expected that the representations would be heard by or repeated to others including
Hynix, Micron or Nanya; (3) Rambus uttered deceptive half- truths about its intellectual property
coverage or potential coverage of products compliant with synchronous DRAM standards then being
considered by JEDEC by disclosing some facts but failing to disclose other important facts; or (4)
JEDEC members shared a clearly defined expectation that members would disclose relevant knowledge
they had about patent applications or the intent to file patent applications on technology being
considered for adoption as a JEDEC standard. Hynix, Micron, and Nanya filed motions for a new trial
and for judgment on certain of their equitable claims and defenses. A hearing on those motions was
held on May 1, 2008. A further hearing on the equitable claims and defenses was held on May 27,
2008. On July 24, 2008, the court issued an order denying Hynix, Micron, and Nanyas motions for
new trial.
On March 3, 2009, the court issued an order rejecting Hynix, Micron, and Nanyas equitable
claims and defenses that had been tried during the coordinated trial. The court concluded (among
other things) that (1) Rambus did not have an obligation to disclose pending or anticipated patent
applications and had sound reasons for not doing so; (2) the evidence supported the jurys finding
that JEDEC members did not share a clearly defined expectation that members would disclose relevant
knowledge they had about patent applications or the intent to file patent applications on
technology being considered for adoption as a JEDEC standard; (3) the written JEDEC disclosure
policies did not clearly require members to disclose information about patent applications and the
intent to file patent applications in the future; (4) there was no clearly understood or legally
enforceable agreement of JEDEC members to disclose information about patent applications or the
intent to seek patents relevant to standards being discussed at JEDEC; (5) during the time Rambus
attended JEDEC meetings, Rambus did not have any patent application pending that covered a JEDEC
standard, and none of the patents in suit was applied for until well after Rambus resigned from
JEDEC; (6) Rambuss conduct at JEDEC did not constitute an estoppel or waiver of its rights to
enforce its patents; (7) Hynix, Micron, and Nanya failed to carry their burden to prove their
asserted waiver and estoppel defenses not directly based on Rambuss conduct at JEDEC; (8) the
evidence did not support a finding of any material misrepresentation, half truths or fraudulent
concealment by Rambus related to JEDEC upon which Nanya relied; (9) the manufacturers failed to
establish that Rambus violated unfair competition law by its conduct before JEDEC; (10) the
evidence related to Rambuss patent prosecution did not establish that Rambus unduly delayed in
prosecuting the claims in suit; (11) Rambus did not unreasonably delay bringing its patent
infringement claims; and (12) there is no basis for any unclean hands defense or unenforceability
claim arising from Rambuss conduct.
In these cases (except for the Hynix 00-20905 action), a hearing on claim construction and the
parties cross-motions for summary judgment on infringement and validity was held on June 4 and 5,
2008. On July 10, 2008, the court issued its claim construction order relating to the
Farmwald/Horowitz patents in suit and denied the Manufacturers motions for summary judgment of
noninfringement
23
and invalidity based on their proposed claim construction. The court issued claim construction
orders relating to the Ware patents in suit on July 25 and August 27, 2008, and denied the
Manufacturers motion for summary judgment of noninfringement of certain claims. On September 4,
2008, at the courts direction, Rambus elected to proceed to trial on 12 patent claims, each from
the Farmwald/Horowitz family. On September 16, 2008, Rambus granted a covenant not to assert any
claim of patent infringement against the Manufacturers under U.S. Patent Nos. 6,493,789 and
6,496,897, and each partys claims relating to those patents were dismissed with prejudice. On
November 21, 2008, the court entered an order clarifying certain aspects of its July 10, 2008,
claim construction order. On November 24, 2008, the court granted Rambuss motion for summary
judgment of direct infringement with respect to claim 16 of Rambuss U.S. Patent No. 6,266,285 by
the Manufacturers DDR2, DDR3, gDDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4 memory chip products (except for Nanyas DDR3
memory chip products). In the same order, the court denied the remainder of Rambuss motion for
summary judgment of infringement.
On January 19, 2009, Nanya and Hynix filed motions for summary judgment on the ground that the
Delaware Order should be given preclusive effect. Rambus filed opposition briefs to these motions
on January 26, 2009, and a hearing was held on January 30, 2009. On February 3, 2009, the court
entered a stay of this action pending resolution of Rambus appeal of the Delaware Order. Trial on
Rambus patent infringement claims has been postponed pending the Federal Circuits decisions in
the Micron and Hynix appeals described above.
European Commission Competition Directorate-General
On or about April 22, 2003, Rambus was notified by the European Commission Competition
Directorate-General (Directorate) (the European Commission) that it had received complaints from
Infineon and Hynix. Rambus answered the ensuing requests for information prompted by those
complaints on June 16, 2003. Rambus obtained a copy of Infineons complaint to the European
Commission in late July 2003, and on October 8, 2003, at the request of the European Commission,
filed its response. The European Commission sent Rambus a further request for information on
December 22, 2006, which Rambus answered on January 26, 2007. On August 1, 2007, Rambus received a
statement of objections from the European Commission. The statement of objections alleges that
through Rambus participation in the JEDEC standards setting organization and subsequent conduct,
Rambus violated European Union competition law. Rambus filed a response to the statement of
objections on October 31, 2007, and a hearing was held on December 4 and 5, 2007.
On December 9, 2009, the European Commission announced that it has reached a final settlement
with Rambus to resolve the pending case. Under the terms of the settlement, the Commission made no
finding of liability, and no fine will be assessed against Rambus. Rambus commits to offer licenses
with maximum royalty rates for certain memory types and memory controllers on a forward-going basis
(the Commitment). The Commitment is expressly made without any admission by Rambus of the
allegations asserted against it. The Commitment also does not resolve any existing claims of
infringement prior to the signing of any license with a prospective licensee, nor does it release
or excuse any of the prospective licensees from damages or royalty obligations through the date of
signing a license. Rambus offers licenses with maximum royalty rates for five-year worldwide
licenses of 1.5% for DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3 and GDDR4 SDRAM memory types. Qualified licensees will enjoy
a royalty holiday for SDR and DDR DRAM devices, subject to compliance with the terms of the
license. In addition, Rambus offers licenses with maximum royalty rates for five-year worldwide
licenses of 1.5% per unit for SDR memory controllers through April 2010, dropping to 1.0%
thereafter, and royalty rates of 2.65% per unit for DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3 and GDDR4 memory
controllers through April 2010, then dropping to 2.0%. The Commitment to license at the above rates
remains valid for a period of five years from December 9, 2009. All royalty rates are applicable to
future shipments only and do not affect liability, if any, for damages or royalties that accrued up
to the time of the license grant.
On March 25, 2010, Hynix filed appeals with the General Court of the European Union purporting
to challenge the settlement and the European Commissions rejection of Hynixs complaint. No
decision has issued to date on Hynixs appeal.
Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco
On May 5, 2004, Rambus filed a lawsuit against Micron, Hynix, Infineon and Siemens in San
Francisco Superior Court (the San Francisco court) seeking damages for conspiring to fix prices
(California Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16720 et seq.), conspiring to monopolize under the Cartwright Act
(California Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16720 et seq.), intentional interference with prospective economic
advantage, and unfair competition (California Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200 et seq.). This lawsuit
alleges that there were concerted efforts beginning in the 1990s to deter innovation in the DRAM
market and to boycott Rambus and/or deter market acceptance of Rambus RDRAM product. Subsequently,
Infineon and Siemens were dismissed from this action (as a result of a settlement with Infineon)
and three Samsung-related entities were added as defendants.
24
On January 19, 2010, Rambus and Samsung entered into a Settlement Agreement pursuant to which
the parties released all claims against each other with respect to all outstanding litigation
between them and certain other potential claims. A stipulation of dismissal with prejudice of
claims between Rambus and Samsung was filed on February 4, 2010.
Trial against Micron and Hynix is scheduled to begin on June 7, 2011.
Stock Option Investigation Related Claims
On May 30, 2006, the Audit Committee commenced an internal investigation of the timing of past
stock option grants and related accounting issues.
On May 31, 2006, the first of three shareholder derivative actions was filed in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of California against Rambus (as a nominal defendant) and
certain current and former executives and board members. These actions were consolidated for all
purposes under the caption, In re Rambus Inc. Derivative Litigation, Master File No. C-06-3513-JF
(N.D. Cal.), and Howard Chu and Gaetano Ruggieri were appointed lead plaintiffs. The consolidated
complaint, as amended, alleged violations of certain federal and state securities laws as well as
other state law causes of action. The complaint sought disgorgement and damages in an unspecified
amount, unspecified equitable relief, and attorneys fees and costs.
On August 30, 2007, another shareholder derivative action was filed in the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York against Rambus (as a nominal defendant) and
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Francl v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP et al., No. 07-Civ. 7650 (GBD)).
On November 21, 2007, the New York court granted PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPs motion to transfer
the action to the Northern District of California.
On October 18, 2006, the Board of Directors formed a Special Litigation Committee (the SLC)
to evaluate potential claims or other actions arising from the stock option granting activities.
The Board of Directors appointed J. Thomas Bentley, Chairman of the Audit Committee, and Abraham
Sofaer, a retired federal judge and Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, both of whom joined
the Rambus Board of Directors in 2005, to comprise the SLC.
On August 24, 2007, the final written report setting forth the findings of the SLC was filed
with the court. As set forth in its report, the SLC determined that all claims should be terminated
and dismissed against the named defendants in In re Rambus Inc. Derivative Litigation with the
exception of claims against named defendant Ed Larsen, who served as Vice President, Human
Resources from September 1996 until December 1999, and then Senior Vice President, Administration
until July 2004. The SLC entered into settlement agreements with certain former officers of Rambus.
The aggregate value of the settlements to Rambus exceeds $5.3 million in cash as well as
substantial additional value to Rambus relating to the relinquishment of claims to over 2.7 million
stock options. On October 5, 2007, Rambus filed a motion to terminate in accordance with the SLCs
recommendations. Subsequently, the parties settled In re Rambus Inc. Derivative Litigation and
Francl v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP et al., No. 07-Civ. 7650 (GBD). The settlement provided for a
payment by Rambus of $2.0 million and dismissal with prejudice of all claims against all
defendants, with the exception of claims against Ed Larsen (which have now also been settled), in
these actions. The $2.0 million was accrued for during the quarter ended June 30, 2008 within
accrued litigation expenses and paid in January 2009. A final approval hearing was held on January
16, 2009, and an order of final approval was entered on January 20, 2009.
On July 17, 2006, the first of six class action lawsuits was filed in the U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of California against Rambus and certain current and former executives
and board members. These lawsuits were consolidated under the caption, In re Rambus Inc. Securities
Litigation, C-06-4346-JF (N.D. Cal.). The settlement of this action was preliminarily approved by
the court on March 5, 2008. Pursuant to the settlement agreement, Rambus paid $18.3 million into a
settlement fund on March 17, 2008. Some alleged class members requested exclusion from the
settlement. A final fairness hearing was held on May 14, 2008. That same day the court entered an
order granting final approval of the settlement agreement and entered judgment dismissing with
prejudice all claims against all defendants in the consolidated class action litigation.
On March 1, 2007, a pro se lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California by two
alleged Rambus shareholders against Rambus, certain current and former executives and board
members, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Kelley et al. v. Rambus, Inc. et al. C-07-01238-JF (N.D.
Cal.)). This action was consolidated with a substantially identical pro se lawsuit filed by another
purported Rambus shareholder against the same parties. The consolidated complaint against Rambus
alleges violations of federal and state securities laws, and state law claims for fraud and breach
of fiduciary duty. Following several rounds of motions to dismiss, on April 17, 2008, the court
dismissed all claims with prejudice except for plaintiffs claims under sections 14(a) and 18(a) of
the
25
Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 as to which leave to amend was granted. On June 2, 2008, plaintiffs
filed an amended complaint containing substantially the same allegations as the prior complaint
although limited to claims under sections 14(a) and 18(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of
1934. Rambus motion to dismiss the amended complaint was heard on September 12, 2008. On December
9, 2008, the court granted Rambus motion and entered judgment in favor of Rambus. Plaintiffs filed
a notice of appeal on December 15, 2008. Plaintiffs filed their opening brief on April 13, 2009.
Rambus opposed on May 29, 2009, and plaintiffs filed a reply brief on June 12, 2009. On June 16,
2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision affirming the
judgment in favor of Rambus.
On September 11, 2008, the same pro se plaintiffs filed a separate lawsuit in Santa Clara
County Superior Court against Rambus, certain current and former executives and board members, and
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Kelley et al. v. Rambus, Inc. et al., Case No. 1-08-CV-122444). The
complaint alleges violations of certain California state securities statues as well as fraud and
negligent misrepresentation based on substantially the same underlying factual allegations
contained in the pro se lawsuit filed in federal court. On October 31, 2010, the plaintiffs filed a
second amended complaint. On December 2, 2010, Rambus filed a demurrer to plaintiffs second
amended complaint on the ground that it is barred by the doctrine of claim preclusion, among other
things. A hearing on Rambus demurrer is scheduled for May 6, 2011.
On August 25, 2008, an amended complaint was filed by certain individuals and entities in
Santa Clara County Superior Court against Rambus, certain current and former executives and board
members, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Steele et al. v. Rambus Inc. et al., Case No.
1-08-CV-113682). The amended complaint alleges violations of certain California state securities
statues as well as fraud and negligent misrepresentation. On October 10, 2008, Rambus filed a
demurrer to the amended complaint. A hearing was held on January 9, 2009. On January 12, 2009, the
court sustained Rambus demurrer without prejudice. Plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint on
February 13, 2009, containing the same causes of action as the previous complaint. On March 17,
2009, Rambus filed a demurrer to the second amended complaint. A hearing was held on May 22, 2009.
On May 26, 2009, the court sustained in part and overruled in part Rambuss demurrer. On June 5,
2009, Rambus filed an answer denying plaintiffs remaining allegations. Discovery is ongoing.
NVIDIA Litigation
U.S District Court in the Northern District of California
On July 10, 2008, Rambus filed suit against NVIDIA Corporation (NVIDIA) in the U.S. District
Court for the Northern District of California alleging that NVIDIAs products with memory
controllers for SDR, DDR, DDRx, GDDR, and GDDRy (where DDRx and GDDRy includes at least DDR2, DDR3
and GDDR3) technologies infringe 17 patents. On September 16, 2008, Rambus granted a covenant not
to assert any claim of patent infringement against NVIDIA under U.S. Patent Nos. 6,493,789 and
6,496,897, accordingly 15 patents remain in suit. On December 30, 2008, the court granted NVIDIAs
motion to stay this case as to Rambus claims that NVIDIAs products infringe nine patents that are
also the subject of proceedings in front of the International Trade Commission (described below),
and denied NVIDIAs motion to stay the remainder of Rambus patent infringement claims. Discovery
is proceeding as to issues not stayed by the courts order. A case management conference is
scheduled for June 3, 2011.
On July 11, 2008, one day after Rambus filed suit, NVIDIA filed its own action against Rambus
in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina alleging that Rambus committed
antitrust violations of the Sherman Act; committed antitrust violations of North Carolina law; and
engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in violation of North Carolina law. NVIDIA seeks
injunctive relief, damages, and attorneys fees and costs. This case has been transferred and
consolidated into Rambuss patent infringement case. Rambus filed a motion to dismiss NVIDIAs
claims prior to transfer of the action to California, and no decision has issued to date.
On December 1, 2010, Rambus filed suit against NVIDIA in the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California alleging that NVIDIAs products with certain peripheral interfaces,
including PCI Express and DisplayPort peripheral interfaces, infringe six patents from the Dally
family of patents which are owned by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and exclusively licensed
by Rambus. On January 20, 2011, NVIDIA filed a motion to stay the case pending resolution of the
2010 ITC investigation (described below). On January 25, 2011, the court granted NVIDIAs motion.
International Trade Commission 2008 Investigation
On November 6, 2008, Rambus filed a complaint with the U. S. International Trade Commission
(the ITC) requesting the commencement of an investigation pertaining to NVIDIA products. The
complaint seeks an exclusion order barring the importation,
26
sale for importation, or sale after importation of products that infringe nine Rambus patents
from the Ware and Barth families of patents. The accused products include NVIDIA products that
incorporate DDR, DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR, GDDR, GDDR2, and GDDR3 memory controllers, including graphics
processors, and media and communications processors. The complaint names NVIDIA as a proposed
respondent, as well as companies whose products incorporate accused NVIDIA products and are
imported into the United States. Additional respondents include: Asustek Computer Inc. and Asus
Computer International, BFG Technologies, Biostar Microtech and Biostar Microtech International
Corp., Diablotek Inc., EVGA Corp., G.B.T. Inc. and Giga-Byte Technology Co., Hewlett-Packard, MSI
Computer Corp. and Micro-Star International Co., Palit Multimedia Inc. and Palit Microsystems Ltd.,
Pine Technology Holdings, and Sparkle Computer Co.
On December 4, 2008, the ITC instituted the investigation. A hearing on claim construction was
held on March 24, 2009, and a claim construction order issued on June 22, 2009. On June 5, 2009,
Rambus moved to withdraw from the investigation four of the asserted patents and certain claims of
a fifth asserted patent in order to simplify the investigation, streamline the final hearing, and
conserve Commission resources. A final hearing before the administrative law judge was held October
13-20, 2009, and the parties submitted two rounds of post-hearing briefs.
On January 22, 2010, the administrative law judge issued a final initial determination holding
that the importation of the accused NVIDIA products violates section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930,
as amended, 19 U.S.C. § 1337 because they infringe seventeen claims of three asserted Barth
patents. The administrative law judge held that the accused NVIDIA products literally infringe all
asserted claims of each asserted Barth and Ware patent, that they infringe three asserted claims
under the doctrine of equivalents, that respondents contribute to and induce infringement of all
asserted claims, and that the asserted patents are not unenforceable due to unclean hands or
equitable estoppel. The administrative law judge held that the asserted Barth patents are not
invalid for anticipation or obviousness and are not obvious for double patenting. The
administrative law judge further held that, while the accused products infringed eight claims of
the two asserted Ware patents and that those patents are not unenforceable due to inequitable
conduct, no violation has occurred because the asserted Ware patents are invalid due to
anticipation and obviousness. The administrative law judge recommended that the ITC issue (1) a
limited exclusion order prohibiting the unlicensed importation of accused products by any
respondent; and (2) a cease and desist order prohibiting domestic respondents from engaging in
certain activities in the United States with respect to the accused products. On February 12, 2010,
the parties filed petitions asking the full Commission to review certain aspects of the final
initial determination.
On March 25, 2010, the ITC determined to review certain obviousness findings regarding the
Barth patents and certain obviousness and anticipation findings regarding the Ware patents. The
parties have submitted briefing on these issues and on the issue of remedy and bonding. On May 24,
2010, the ITC extended the target date for completion of the investigation by two days to May 26,
2010. On May 26, 2010, the ITC requested further briefing on the impact of the license between
Rambus and Samsung on the administrative law judges findings and conclusions, particularly on the
issue of patent exhaustion. On June 7, 2010 and June 15, 2010, the parties filed briefs as
requested by the ITC. On June 22, 2010, the ITC requested additional briefing to discuss the
relevance and effect with respect to the issue of patent exhaustion of a decision issued on May 27,
2010, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a case captioned Fujifilm
Corp. v. Benun. On June 25, 2010, the parties filed briefs as requested by the ITC.
On July 26, 2010, the ITC issued its final determination affirming the administrative law
judges initial determination with certain modifications to provide further analysis of issues
related to obviousness. The ITC found that respondents failed to demonstrate that Rambus patent
rights are exhausted with respect to accused products that incorporate Samsung memory. The ITC
issued (1) a limited exclusion order prohibiting the unlicensed importation by any respondent of
memory controller products and products incorporating a memory controller that infringe one or more
of the seventeen claims of three asserted Barth patents; and (2) a cease and desist order
prohibiting respondents with commercially significant inventories of infringing products in the
United States from importing, selling, marketing, advertising, distributing, offering for sale,
transferring (except for exportation), and soliciting U.S. agents or distributors for, memory
controller products and products incorporating a memory controller that infringe one or more of the
seventeen claims of three asserted Barth patents, in violation of 19 U.S.C. § 1337. The ITC
determined that the amount of the bond to permit importation during the sixty-day Presidential
review period was 2.65 percent of the entered value of the subject imports. The ITC denied
respondents request for stay and terminated the investigation. The parties have each filed opening
appellate briefs with the Federal Circuit, and responsive briefs are due May 9, 2011. No date for
oral argument has been scheduled.
International Trade Commission 2010 Investigation
On December 1, 2010, Rambus filed a complaint with the ITC requesting the commencement of an
investigation and seeking an exclusion order barring the importation, sale for importation, or sale
after importation of, among other things, NVIDIA products with certain peripheral interfaces,
including PCI Express and DisplayPort peripheral interfaces, that Rambus alleges infringe three
patents
27
from the Dally family. The complaint names, among others, NVIDIA as a respondent, as well as
companies whose products incorporate accused NVIDIA products and are imported into the United
States, including Asustek Computer Inc. and Asus Computer International Inc., Biostar Microtech
(U.S.A.) Corp., Biostar Microtech International Corp., Elitegroup Computer Systems, EVGA Corp.,
Galaxy Microsystems Ltd., G.B.T. Inc., Giga-Byte Technology Co. Ltd., Gracom Technologies LLC,
Hewlett-Packard Company, Jaton Corp., Jaton Technology TPE, Micro-Star International Co., MSI
Computer Corp., Palit Microsystems Ltd., Pine Technology Holdings, Ltd., Sparkle Computer Co.,
Ltd., Zotac International (MCO) Ltd. and Zotac USA Inc. On December 29, 2010, the ITC instituted
the investigation. A final hearing before the administrative law judge is scheduled for October
12-20, 2011. Under the current schedule, the final initial determination is due on or before
January 4, 2012, and the target date is May 4, 2012.
Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek, and STMicroelectronics Litigation
International Trade Commission 2010 Investigation
On December 1, 2010, Rambus filed a complaint with the ITC requesting the commencement of an
investigation and seeking an exclusion order barring the importation, sale for importation, or sale
after importation of products that incorporate at least DDR, DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR, LPDDR2, mobile DDR,
GDDR, GDDR2, and GDDR3 memory controllers from Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek and
STMicroelectronics that infringe patents from the Barth family of patents, and products having
certain peripheral interfaces, including PCI Express interfaces, DisplayPort interfaces, and
certain Serial AT Attachment (SATA) and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interfaces, from Broadcom,
Freescale, LSI and STMicroelectronics that infringe patents from the Dally family of patents. The
complaint names, among others, Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek and STMicroelectronics as
respondents, as well as companies whose products incorporate those companies accused products and
are imported into the United States, including Asustek Computer Inc. and Asus Computer
International Inc., Audio Partnership Plc, Cisco Systems, Garmin International, G.B.T. Inc.,
Giga-Byte Technology Co. Ltd., Gracom Technologies LLC, Hewlett-Packard Company, Hitachi GST,
Motorola, Inc., Oppo Digital, Inc., and Seagate Technology. As described more fully above, the
complaint also names NVIDIA and certain companies whose products incorporate accused NVIDIA
products with certain peripheral interfaces, including PCI Express and DisplayPort peripheral
interfaces, and seeks to bar their importation, sale for importation, or sale after importation.
On December 29, 2010, the ITC instituted the investigation. A final hearing before the
administrative law judge is scheduled for October 12-20, 2011. Under the current schedule, the
final initial determination is due on or before January 4, 2012, and the target date is May 4,
2012.
U.S District Court in the Northern District of California
On December 1, 2010, Rambus filed complaints against Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek and
STMicroelectronics in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that
1) products that incorporate at least DDR, DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR, LPDDR2, mobile DDR, GDDR, GDDR2, and
GDDR3 memory controllers from Broadcom, Freescale, LSI, MediaTek and STMicroelectronics infringe
patents from the Barth family of patents; 2) those same products and products from those companies
that incorporate SDR memory controllers infringe patents from the Farmwald-Horowitz family; and 3)
products having certain peripheral interfaces, including PCI Express, DisplayPort, and certain SATA
and SAS interfaces, from Broadcom, Freescale, LSI and STMicroelectronics infringe patents from the
Dally family of patents. On January 24, January 26, and March 1, 2011, LSI, Broadcom, and
STMicroelectronics filed their respective answers denying Rambuss allegations and asserting
counterclaims seeking declarations of non-infringement and invalidity, and unenforceability with
respect to at least certain of the patents in suit. Rambus filed answers denying the allegations in
LSIs, Broadcoms, and STMicroelectronics counterclaims on February 14, February 16, and March 22,
2011, respectively. On February 7 and March 7, 2011, Freescale and MediaTek filed their respective
answers denying Rambuss allegations. Responses to the complaints in the remainder of these actions
are not yet due. On January 26, 2011, Freescale filed a motion to stay the case against Freescale.
On January 28, 2011, Broadcom, Mediatek, and LSI filed motions to stay their respective actions. On
February 4, 2011, STMicroelectronics filed a motion to stay its action. Rambus has opposed entry of
any stay as to certain patents not overlapping with patents asserted in the ITC 2010 investigation.
A hearing on these motions to stay was held on April 21, 2011. No decision has issued to date.
Potential Future Litigation
In addition to the litigation described above, companies continue to adopt Rambus technologies
into various products. Rambus has notified many of these companies of their use of Rambus
technology and continues to evaluate how to proceed on these matters.
There can be no assurance that any ongoing or future litigation will be successful. Rambus
spends substantial company resources defending its intellectual property in litigation, which may
continue for the foreseeable future given the multiple pending litigations.
28
The outcomes of these litigations as well as any delay in their resolution could affect
Rambus ability to license its intellectual property in the future.
The Company records a contingent liability when it is probable that a loss has been incurred
and the amount is reasonably estimable in accordance with accounting for contingencies.
14. Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value measurement statement defines fair value as the price that would be received
from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market
participants at the measurement date. When determining fair value, the Company considers the
principal or most advantageous market in which the Company would transact, and the Company
considers assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability, such
as inherent risk, transfer restrictions, and risk of non-performance.
The Companys financial instruments are measured and recorded at fair value, except for cost
method investments and convertible notes. The Companys non-financial assets, such as goodwill,
intangible assets, and property, plant and equipment are measured at fair value when there is an
indicator of impairment and recorded at fair value only when an impairment charge is recognized.
Fair Value Hierarchy
The fair value measurement statement requires disclosure that establishes a framework for
measuring fair value and expands disclosure about fair value measurements. The statement requires
fair value measurement be classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories:
Level 1: Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets that are accessible at the measurement
date for identical, unrestricted assets or liabilities.
The Company uses unadjusted quotes to determine fair value. The financial assets in Level 1
include money market funds.
Level 2: Quoted prices in markets that are not active, or inputs which are observable, either
directly or indirectly, for substantially the full term of the asset or liability.
The Company uses observable pricing inputs including benchmark yields, reported trades, and
broker/dealer quotes. The financial assets in Level 2 include U.S. government bonds and notes,
corporate notes, commercial paper and municipal bonds and notes.
Level 3: Prices or valuation techniques that require inputs that are both significant to the
fair value measurement and unobservable (i.e., supported by little or no market activity).
The financial assets in Level 3 include a cost investment whose value is determined using
inputs that are both unobservable and significant to the fair value measurements.
The Company tests the pricing inputs by obtaining prices from two different sources for the
same security on a sample of its portfolio. The Company has not adjusted the pricing inputs it has
obtained. The following table presents the financial instruments that are carried at fair value and
summarizes the valuation of its cash equivalents and marketable securities by the above pricing
levels as of March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of March 31, 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quoted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Market |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prices in |
|
|
Other |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Active |
|
|
Observable |
|
|
Unobservable |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Markets |
|
|
Inputs |
|
|
Inputs |
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
(Level 1) |
|
|
(Level 2) |
|
|
(Level 3) |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Money market funds |
|
$ |
172,693 |
|
|
$ |
172,693 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
U.S. government bonds and notes |
|
|
177,888 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
177,888 |
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate notes, bonds and commercial paper |
|
|
148,453 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
148,453 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total available-for-sale securities |
|
$ |
499,034 |
|
|
$ |
172,693 |
|
|
$ |
326,341 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
29
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of December 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quoted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Market |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prices in |
|
|
Other |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Active |
|
|
Observable |
|
|
Unobservable |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Markets |
|
|
Inputs |
|
|
Inputs |
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
(Level 1) |
|
|
(Level 2) |
|
|
(Level 3) |
|
|
|
(In thousands) |
|
Money market funds |
|
$ |
132,364 |
|
|
$ |
132,364 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
U.S. government bonds and notes |
|
|
266,817 |
|
|
|
48,604 |
|
|
|
218,213 |
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate notes, bonds and commercial paper |
|
|
95,724 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
95,724 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total available-for-sale securities |
|
$ |
494,905 |
|
|
$ |
180,968 |
|
|
$ |
313,937 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Company monitors the investment for other-than-temporary impairment and records
appropriate reductions in carrying value when necessary. The Company evaluated the fair value of
the investment in the non-marketable security as of March 31, 2011 and determined that there were
no events that caused a decrease in its fair value below the carrying cost.
The following table presents the financial instruments that are measured and carried at cost
on a nonrecurring basis as of March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of March 31, 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quoted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
market |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Impairment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
prices in |
|
|
other |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
charges for |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
active |
|
|
observable |
|
|
unobservable |
|
|
the three |
|
|
|
Carrying |
|
|
markets |
|
|
inputs |
|
|
inputs |
|
|
months end March |
|
(in thousands) |
|
Value |
|
|
(Level 1) |
|
|
(Level 2) |
|
|
(Level 3) |
|
|
31, 2011 |
|
Investment in non-marketable security |
|
$ |
2,000 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
2,000 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of December 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quoted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
market |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
prices in |
|
|
other |
|
|
Significant |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
active |
|
|
observable |
|
|
unobservable |
|
|
Impairment charges |
|
|
|
Carrying |
|
|
markets |
|
|
inputs |
|
|
inputs |
|
|
for the year ended |
|
(in thousands) |
|
Value |
|
|
(Level 1) |
|
|
(Level 2) |
|
|
(Level 3) |
|
|
December 31, 2010 |
|
Investment in non-marketable security |
|
$ |
2,000 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
2,000 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, there were no transfers of financial
instruments between different categories of fair value.
The following table presents the financial instruments that are not carried at fair value but
which require fair value disclosure as of March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of March 31, 2011 |
|
|
As of December 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
Face |
|
|
Carrying |
|
|
Fair |
|
|
Face |
|
|
Carrying |
|
|
|
|
(in thousands) |
|
Value |
|
|
Value |
|
|
Value |
|
|
Value |
|
|
Value |
|
|
Fair Value |
|
5% Convertible Senior Notes due 2014 |
|
$ |
172,500 |
|
|
$ |
124,359 |
|
|
$ |
219,938 |
|
|
$ |
172,500 |
|
|
$ |
121,500 |
|
|
$ |
224,504 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The fair value of the convertible notes at each balance sheet date is determined based on
recent quoted market prices for these notes. As of March 31, 2011, the convertible notes are
carried at face value of $172.5 million less any unamortized debt discount. The carrying value of
other financial instruments, including cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable and other
payables, approximates fair value due to their short maturities.
The Company monitors its investments for other than temporary losses by considering current
factors, including the economic environment, market conditions, operational performance and other
specific factors relating to the business underlying the investment, reductions in carrying values
when necessary and the Companys ability and intent to hold the investment for a period of time
which
30
may be sufficient for anticipated recovery in the market. Any other than temporary loss is
reported under Interest and other income (expense), net in the consolidated statement of
operations. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, the Company has not incurred any impairment
loss on its investments.
15. Convertible Notes
The Companys convertible notes are shown in the following table.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of March 31, |
|
|
As of December 31, |
|
(dollars in thousands) |
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
5%
Convertible Senior Notes due 2014 (the 2014 Notes) |
|
$ |
172,500 |
|
|
$ |
172,500 |
|
Unamortized discount |
|
|
(48,141 |
) |
|
|
(51,000 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total convertible notes |
|
$ |
124,359 |
|
|
$ |
121,500 |
|
Less current portion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total long-term convertible notes |
|
$ |
124,359 |
|
|
$ |
121,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As of March 31, 2011, none of the conversion conditions were met related to the 2014 Notes.
Therefore, the classification of the entire equity component for the 2014 Notes in permanent equity
is appropriate as of March 31, 2011.
Interest expense related to the notes for the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010 was
as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
(in thousands) |
|
2014 Notes coupon interest at a rate of 5% |
|
$ |
2,156 |
|
|
$ |
2,156 |
|
2014 Notes amortization of discount at an additional effective interest rate of 11.7% |
|
|
3,016 |
|
|
|
2,902 |
|
Zero Coupon
Convertible Senior Notes due 2010 amortization of discount at an effective interest rate of 8.4% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
958 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total interest expense on convertible notes |
|
$ |
5,172 |
|
|
$ |
6,016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
31
Item 2. Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements
relate to our expectations for future events and time periods. All statements other than statements
of historical fact are statements that could be deemed to be forward-looking statements, including
any statements regarding trends in future revenue or results of operations, gross margin or
operating margin, expenses, earnings or losses from operations, synergies or other financial items;
any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any
statements concerning developments, performance or industry ranking; any statements regarding
future economic conditions or performance; any statements regarding pending investigations, claims
or disputes; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying
any of the foregoing. Generally, the words anticipate, believes, plans, expects, future,
intends, may, should, estimates, predicts, potential, continue and similar
expressions identify forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on
current expectations, forecasts and assumptions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes
in condition, significance, value and effect. As a result of the factors described herein, and in
the documents incorporated herein by reference, including, in particular, those factors described
under Risk Factors, we undertake no obligation to publicly disclose any revisions to these
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring subsequent to filing this
report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Rambus,
RDRAMtm, XDRtm, FlexIOtm
and FlexPhasetm are trademarks or registered trademarks of Rambus Inc. Other
trademarks that may be mentioned in this quarterly report on Form 10-Q are the property of their
respective owners.
Industry terminology, used widely throughout this report, has been abbreviated and, as such,
these abbreviations are defined below for your convenience:
|
|
|
Double Data Rate
|
|
DDR |
Dynamic Random Access Memory
|
|
DRAM |
Fully Buffered-Dual Inline Memory Module
|
|
FB-DIMM |
Gigabits per second
|
|
Gb/s |
Graphics Double Data Rate
|
|
GDDR |
Input/Output
|
|
I/O |
Light Emitting Diodes
|
|
LED |
Lighting and Display Technology
|
|
LDT |
Liquid Crystal Display
|
|
LCD |
Peripheral Component Interconnect
|
|
PCI |
Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory
|
|
RDRAMtm |
Single Data Rate
|
|
SDR |
Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
|
|
SDRAM |
eXtreme Data Rate
|
|
XDRtm |
From time to time we will refer to the abbreviated names of certain entities and, as such,
have provided a chart to indicate the full names of those entities for your convenience.
|
|
|
Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
|
|
AMD |
Broadcom Corporation
|
|
Broadcom |
Elpida Memory, Inc.
|
|
Elpida |
Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
|
|
Freescale |
Fujitsu Limited
|
|
Fujitsu |
General Electric Company
|
|
GE |
Global Lighting Technologies, Inc.
|
|
GLT |
Hewlett-Packard Company
|
|
Hewlett-Packard |
Hynix Semiconductor, Inc.
|
|
Hynix |
Infineon Technologies AG
|
|
Infineon |
Inotera Memories, Inc.
|
|
Inotera |
Intel Corporation
|
|
Intel |
International Business Machines Corporation
|
|
IBM |
Joint Electronic Device Engineering Councils
|
|
JEDEC |
LSI Corporation
|
|
LSI |
MediaTek Inc.
|
|
MediaTek |
Micron Technologies, Inc.
|
|
Micron |
32
|
|
|
Nanya Technology Corporation
|
|
Nanya |
NEC Electronics Corporation
|
|
NEC |
NVIDIA Corporation
|
|
NVIDIA |
Qimonda AG (formerly Infineons DRAM operations)
|
|
Qimonda |
Panasonic Corporation
|
|
Panasonic |
Renesas Electronics
|
|
Renesas |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
|
|
Samsung |
Sony Computer Electronics
|
|
Sony |
Spansion, Inc.
|
|
Spansion |
ST Microelectronics N.V.
|
|
STMicroelectronics |
Toshiba Corporation
|
|
Toshiba |
33
Business Overview
We are a premier intellectual property and technology licensing company. Our primary focus is
the creation, design, development and licensing of patented innovations, technologies and
architectures that are foundational to nearly all digital electronics products and systems. Our
patented innovations and technologies aim to improve the performance, power efficiency,
time-to-market and cost-effectiveness of our customers products, components and systems offered
and used in semiconductors, computers, mobile applications, gaming and graphics, consumer
electronics, lighting displays and general lighting. By licensing our patented innovations and
technologies, we hope to continuously enrich the end-user experience of the digital electronics
products and systems marketed and sold by our customers and licensees. We believe we have
established an unparalleled licensing platform and business model that will continue to foster the
development of new foundational and leading innovations and technologies. As a result, our goal is
to create significant licensing opportunities, and thereby perpetuate strong company operating
performance and long term stockholder value.
While we have historically focused our efforts in developing and licensing patented
innovations and technologies for the semiconductor industry, particularly in the area of chip
interfaces, we have initiated diversification efforts to expand our portfolio of patented
innovations and technologies into lighting and displays, mobile communications, and additional
semiconductor technologies. We expect to continue this diversification initiative through the
acquisition of assets and the hiring of the inventors, scientists and engineers who will lead the
effort to further develop these patented innovations and technologies in these new areas of focus.
During 2010, we initiated an internal structural reorganization to establish separate business
groups for our semiconductor industry focused operations (SBG) and operations focused on new or
emerging licensing opportunities (NBG) which includes our LDT group. We expect this internal
realignment to help drive efficiencies in operations and optimize our licensing platform and
business model as we expand and diversify into new markets. Segment information is not separately
discussed below as the operating results for NBG did not meet the quantitative thresholds for
segment reporting in 2010. For additional information concerning segment reporting, see Note 11,
Business Segments and Major Customers, of Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements of
this Form 10-Q.
The key elements of our strategy are as follows:
Innovate: Develop and patent our innovative technology to provide fundamental competitive
advantage when incorporated into semiconductors, and digital electronics products and systems.
Drive Adoption: Communicate the advantages of our patented innovations and technologies to
the industry and encourage its adoption through demonstrations and incorporation in the products
of select customers.
Monetize: License our patented inventions and technology solutions to customers for use in
their semiconductor and system products.
As of March 31, 2011, our semiconductor, chip interface, lighting, display and other
technologies are covered by approximately 1,210 U.S. and foreign patents. Additionally, we have
approximately 910 patent applications pending. These patents and patent applications cover
important inventions in memory and logic chip interfaces, optoelectronics, mobile applications and
other technologies. Some of the patents and pending patent applications are derived from a common
parent patent application or are foreign counterpart patent applications. We have a program to file
applications for and obtain patents in the United States and in selected foreign countries where we
believe filing for such protection is appropriate and would further our overall strategy and
objectives. In some instances, obtaining appropriate levels of protection may involve prosecuting
continuation and counterpart patent applications based on a common parent application. We believe
that our patented innovations provide our customers means to achieve higher performance, improved
power efficiency, lower risk, and greater cost-effectiveness in their digital electronics products
and systems.
Our patented innovations and technologies are offered to our customers through either a patent
license or a technology license. Our revenues are primarily derived from patent licenses, through
which we provide a license to our broad portfolio of patented innovations primarily to
semiconductor and system companies who use these innovations in the development and manufacture of
their own products. Our patent licensing agreements may provide a license to all or part of our
patent portfolio for a particular use, product or technology. The patent license essentially
provides our customers with a defined right to use our patented innovations in the customers own
digital electronics products and systems. Patent license agreements are generally structured with
variable royalty payments, although some agreements include fixed payments over certain defined
periods.
We also offer our customers technology licenses. We typically offer technology licenses to
support the implementation and adoption of our patented innovations and technologies through
know-how and technology transfers, product design, development, and system integration consulting
and engineering services. Our technology license offerings also include a range of solutions
developed
34
by Rambus, which include leadership solutions (which are Rambus-proprietary solutions widely
licensed to our customers) and industry-standard solutions that we provide to our customers under
license for incorporation into our customers digital electronics products and systems. Due to the
often complex nature of implementing state-of-the art technology, we also offer engineering
services to our customers to help them successfully integrate our solutions into their digital
electronics products and systems. These technology license agreements may have both a fixed price
(non-recurring) component and ongoing royalties. Engineering services are generally offered on a
fixed price basis. Further, under technology licenses, our customers typically receive licenses to
our patents necessary to implement these solutions in their products with specific rights and
restrictions to the applicable patents elaborated in their individual contracts with us.
Royalties represent a substantial majority of our total revenue. We derive the majority of our
royalty revenue by licensing our broad portfolio of patents for chip interfaces to our customers.
Such licenses may cover part or all of our patent portfolio. Leading semiconductor and system
companies such as AMD, Fujitsu, Intel, Panasonic, Renesas, Samsung and Toshiba have licensed our
patents for use in their own products.
We also derive additional revenue by licensing a range of technology solutions including our
leadership architectures and industry-standard solutions to customers for use in their
semiconductor and system products. Our customers include leading companies such as Elpida, IBM,
Panasonic, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba. Due to the complex nature of implementing our technologies,
we provide engineering services under certain of these licenses to help our customers successfully
integrate our technology solutions into their semiconductors and system products. Licensees also
may receive, in addition to their technology license agreements, patent licenses as necessary to
implement the technology in their products with specific rights and restrictions to the applicable
patents elaborated in their individual contracts.
The remainder of our revenue is contract services revenue which includes license fees and
engineering services fees. The timing and amounts invoiced to customers can vary significantly
depending on specific contract terms and can therefore have a significant impact on deferred
revenue or account receivables in any given period.
We intend to continue making significant expenditures associated with engineering, marketing,
general and administration including litigation expenses, and expect that these costs and expenses
will continue to be a significant percentage of revenue in future periods. Whether such expenses
increase or decrease as a percentage of revenue will be substantially dependent upon the rate at
which our revenue or expenses change.
Executive Summary
During the first quarter of 2011, we renewed patent license agreements with Panasonic and
Toshiba. We continue to pursue other revenue opportunities in order to grow our revenue. In
December 2009, we added lighting technology through the acquisition of patented innovations and
technology from GLT as part of our strategy to expand our patent portfolio and diversify our
business. In June 2010, we signed a broad licensing agreement for the use of our patented lighting
innovations with GE Lighting, a unit of GEs Appliances & Lighting business. We also purchased
patents and businesses during 2010 as part of our ongoing acquisition activities to broaden our
technology portfolio.
Research and development continues to play a key role in our efforts to maintain product
innovations. Our engineering expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2011 increased $2.9
million as compared to the same period in 2010 primarily due to additional headcount to support our
business and additional amortization expense related to intangible assets acquired during 2010,
offset by funding for our 2011 Corporate Incentive Plan (CIP) for the first quarter of 2011 which
was lower than our 2010 CIP for the first quarter of 2010. As a percentage of revenue, engineering
expenses increased in 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010 primarily due to higher expenses
and lower revenue. Marketing, general and administrative expenses in aggregate increased $1.2
million for the three months ended March 31, 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010 primarily
due to higher litigation expenses. Our lower revenue combined with the increase in marketing,
general and administrative expenses, has caused marketing, general and administrative expenses to
increase as a percentage of revenue. Additionally, for the three months ended March 31, 2011, we
incurred costs of restatement and related legal activities of $1.2 million primarily due to
litigation expense associated with the derivative lawsuit related to the 2006-2007 stock option
investigation.
Trends
35
There are a number of trends that we expect may or will have a material impact on us in the
future, including global economic conditions with the resulting impact on sales, continuing pursuit
of litigation against companies that we believe have infringed our patented technologies and shifts
in our overall effective tax rate.
We have a high degree of revenue concentration, with our top five licensees representing
approximately 74% and 94% of our revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010,
respectively. As a result of our settlement with Samsung in 2010, Samsung is expected to account
for a significant portion of our ongoing licensing revenue. For the three months ended March 31,
2011, revenue from Elpida, NVIDIA, Samsung and Toshiba each accounted for 10% or more of our total
revenue. For the three months ended March 31, 2010, revenue from Samsung accounted for 10% or more
of our total revenue.
The particular licensees which account for revenue concentration have varied from period to
period as a result of the addition of new contracts, expiration of existing contracts, industry
consolidation and the volumes and prices at which the licensees have recently sold licensed
semiconductors to system companies. These variations are expected to continue in the foreseeable
future.
The semiconductor industry is intensely competitive and highly cyclical. Our visibility with
respect to future sales is very limited at this time. To the extent that macroeconomic fluctuations
negatively affect our principal licensees, the demand for our technology may be significantly and
adversely impacted and we may experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in our operating
results. Potential disruptions in the semiconductor industry supply chain resulting from the recent
disaster in Japan could affect our licensees business operations. We are monitoring the situation
and are in regular dialog with our licensees. Currently, we are forecasting a modest impact to our
business.
The royalties we receive are partly a function of the adoption of our chip interfaces by
system companies. Many system companies purchase semiconductors containing our chip interfaces from
our licensees and do not have a direct contractual relationship with us. Our licensees generally do
not provide us with details as to the identity or volume of licensed semiconductors purchased by
particular system companies. As a result, we face difficulty in analyzing the extent to which our
future revenue will be dependent upon particular system companies. System companies face intense
competitive pressure in their markets, which are characterized by extreme volatility, frequent new
product introductions and rapidly shifting consumer preferences.
The display industry is also intensely competitive and highly cyclical. We believe the
potential percentage of transition to LED lightguides from cold cathode fluorescent lights (CCFL)
lightguides could be up to 100% for cellular phones and notebook computers and could reach up to
50% for display monitors and LCD televisions in 2011. The tablet market is growing rapidly as a new
category that primarily uses LED lightguides to achieve slim designs. Our LDT group has numerous
patents in edge lit LED lightguide technology. Our plans are to license our technology to key
companies that use LED edge lit display products.
The highly fragmented general lighting industry is undergoing a fundamental shift from
incandescent technology to CCFL and LED driven technology by the need to reduce energy consumption
and to comply with government mandates. LED lighting typically saves 40% of the energy costs as
compared to existing installed lighting. Our LDT group has numerous patents in LED edge lit
lightguide technology which can be applied in the design of next generation LED lighting products.
Our goal is to be a major player in the general lighting industry with our technology and have
established a technology center in Brecksville, Ohio.
Our revenue from companies headquartered outside of the United States accounted for
approximately 78% and 97% of our total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010,
respectively. We expect that revenue derived from international licensees will continue to
represent a significant portion of our total revenue in the future. To date, all of the revenue
from international licensees have been denominated in U.S. dollars. However, to the extent that
such licensees sales to their customers are not denominated in U.S. dollars, any royalties that we
receive as a result of such sales could be subject to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. In
addition, if the effective price of licensed semiconductors sold by our foreign licensees were to
increase as a result of fluctuations in the exchange rate of the relevant currencies, demand for
licensed semiconductors could fall, which in turn would reduce our royalties. We do not use
financial instruments to hedge foreign exchange rate risk.
For additional information concerning international revenue, see Note 11, Business Segments
and Major Customers, of Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-Q.
Engineering costs in the aggregate and as a percentage of revenue increased for the three
months ended March 31, 2011 as compared to the same period in the prior year. In the near term, we
intend to continue to make investments in the infrastructure and technologies required to maintain
our product innovations in semiconductor and lighting technologies.
36
Marketing, general and administrative expenses in the aggregate and as a percentage of revenue
increased for the three months ended March 31, 2011 as compared to the same period in the prior
year. Historically, we have been involved in significant litigation stemming from the unlicensed
use of our inventions. Our litigation expenses have been high and difficult to predict and we
anticipate future litigation expenses will continue to be significant, volatile and difficult to
predict. If we are successful in the litigation and/or related licensing, our revenue could be
substantially higher in the future; if we are unsuccessful, our revenue may not grow. Furthermore,
our success in litigation matters pending before courts and regulatory bodies that relate to our
intellectual property rights have impacted and will likely continue to impact our ability and the
terms upon which we are able to negotiate new or renegotiate existing licenses for our technology.
We will continue to pursue litigation against those companies that have infringed our patented
technologies, which in turn will continue to increase marketing, general and administrative
expenses as litigation expenses will continue to increase until such litigation is resolved.
As we continue to pursue litigation and invest in research and development projects combined
with lower revenue from our licensees in the future, our cash from operations will be negatively
affected.
Results of Operations
The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the percentage of total revenue
represented by certain items reflected in our unaudited consolidated statements of operations:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
2011 |
|
2010 |
Revenue: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Royalties |
|
|
94.7 |
% |
|
|
99.2 |
% |
Contract revenue |
|
|
5.3 |
% |
|
|
0.8 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total revenue |
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating costs and expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenue* |
|
|
5.0 |
% |
|
|
1.1 |
% |
Research and development* |
|
|
37.3 |
% |
|
|
13.4 |
% |
Marketing, general and administrative* |
|
|
52.3 |
% |
|
|
19.5 |
% |
Costs of restatement and related legal activities |
|
|
1.9 |
% |
|
|
0.3 |
% |
Gain from settlement |
|
|
(9.9 |
)% |
|
|
(59.2 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total operating costs and expenses (recoveries) |
|
|
86.6 |
% |
|
|
(24.9 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating income |
|
|
13.4 |
% |
|
|
124.9 |
% |
Interest income and other income (expense), net |
|
|
(1.0 |
)% |
|
|
0.3 |
% |
Interest expense on convertible notes |
|
|
(8.3 |
)% |
|
|
(3.7 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest and other income (expense), net |
|
|
(9.3 |
)% |
|
|
(3.5 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Income before income taxes |
|
|
4.1 |
% |
|
|
121.4 |
% |
Provision for income taxes |
|
|
10.8 |
% |
|
|
28.2 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net income (loss) |
|
|
(6.7 |
)% |
|
|
93.2 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* |
|
Includes stock-based compensation: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenue |
|
|
0.2 |
% |
|
|
0.1 |
% |
Research and development |
|
|
4.0 |
% |
|
|
1.6 |
% |
Marketing, general and administrative |
|
|
7.4 |
% |
|
|
3.2 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ended March 31, |
|
|
Change in |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
(Dollars in millions) |
|
|
|
|
|
Total Revenue |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Royalties |
|
$ |
59.2 |
|
|
$ |
160.6 |
|
|
|
(63.1 |
)% |
Contract revenue |
|
|
3.3 |
|
|
|
1.3 |
|
|
|
149.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total revenue |
|
$ |
62.5 |
|
|
$ |
161.9 |
|
|
|
(61.4 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Royalty Revenue
Patent Licenses
37
Our patent royalties decreased approximately $102.1 million to $51.0 million for the three
months ended March 31, 2011 from $153.1 million for the same period in 2010. The decrease was
primarily due to the patent license revenue related to the settlement with Samsung in the first
quarter of 2010.
In January 2011, Panasonic renewed its patent license agreement. The effective date of the
agreement is October 1, 2010 and the expiration date of the term license is October 1, 2015.
In March 2011, Toshiba renewed its patent license agreement. The effective date of the
agreement is April 1, 2010 and the expiration date of the term license is April 1, 2015.
We are in negotiations with prospective licensees as well as existing licensees regarding
renewals. We expect patent royalties will continue to vary from period to period based on our
success in renewing existing license agreements and adding new licensees, as well as the level of
variation in our licensees reported shipment volumes, sales price and mix, offset in part by the
proportion of licensee payments that are fixed.
Technology Licenses
Royalties from technology licenses increased approximately $0.7 million to $8.2 million for
the three months ended March 31, 2011 from $7.5 million for the same period in 2010. The increase
was primarily due to higher royalties from
XDRtm DRAM associated with increased
shipments of the Sony PLAYSTATION®3 product.
In the future, we expect technology royalties will continue to vary from period to period
based on our licensees shipment volumes, sales prices, and product mix.
Contract Revenue
Contract revenue increased approximately $2.0 million to $3.3 million for the three months
ended March 31, 2011 from $1.3 million for the same period in 2010. The increase was primarily due
to increased revenue from our existing technology development contracts, as well as increased
revenue from reseller agreements.
We believe that contract revenue recognized will continue to fluctuate over time based on our
ongoing contractual requirements, the amount of work performed, the timing of completing
engineering deliverables, and by changes to work required, as well as new technology development
contracts booked in the future.
Engineering costs:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
Change in |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
(Dollars in millions) |
|
|
|
|
|
Engineering costs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of revenue |
|
$ |
3.1 |
|
|
$ |
1.8 |
|
|
|
72.5 |
% |
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
0.1 |
|
|
|
0.1 |
|
|
|
23.0 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cost of revenue |
|
|
3.2 |
|
|
|
1.9 |
|
|
|
69.8 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Research and development |
|
|
20.8 |
|
|
|
19.1 |
|
|
|
8.8 |
% |
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
2.5 |
|
|
|
2.6 |
|
|
|
(2.2 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total research and development |
|
|
23.3 |
|
|
|
21.7 |
|
|
|
7.5 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total engineering costs |
|
$ |
26.5 |
|
|
$ |
23.6 |
|
|
|
12.4 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total engineering costs increased 12.4% for the three months ended March 31, 2011 as compared
to the same period in 2010 primarily due to additional headcount to support our business and
additional amortization expense related to intangible assets acquired during 2010, offset by
funding for our 2011 Corporate Incentive Plan (CIP) which is lower than our 2010 CIP.
In the near term, we intend to continue to make investments in the infrastructure and
technologies required to maintain our product innovation in semiconductor and lighting
technologies.
Marketing, general and administrative costs:
38
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
Change in |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
(Dollars in millions) |
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing, general and administrative costs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing, general and administrative costs |
|
$ |
18.8 |
|
|
$ |
19.3 |
|
|
|
(2.4 |
)% |
Litigation expense |
|
|
9.2 |
|
|
|
7.0 |
|
|
|
30.9 |
% |
Stock-based compensation |
|
|
4.7 |
|
|
|
5.2 |
|
|
|
(9.9 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total marketing, general and administrative costs |
|
$ |
32.7 |
|
|
$ |
31.5 |
|
|
|
3.8 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total marketing, general and administrative costs increased 3.8% for the three months ended
March 31, 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010 due primarily to the increased litigation
expenses related to ongoing major cases. Non-litigation related marketing, general and
administrative costs decreased in the first quarter of 2011 primarily due to funding for our 2011
CIP which is lower than our 2010 CIP, offset by increase in headcount to support our business.
In the future, marketing, general and administrative costs will vary from period to period
based on the trade shows, advertising, legal, acquisition and other marketing and administrative
activities undertaken, and the change in sales, marketing and administrative headcount in any given
period. Litigation expenses are expected to vary from period to period due to the variability of
litigation activities.
Costs of restatement and related legal activities:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
Change in |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
(Dollars in millions) |
|
|
|
|
|
Cost of restatement and related legal activities |
|
$ |
1.2 |
|
|
$ |
0.5 |
|
|
|
120.3 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Costs of restatement and related legal activities, net, consist primarily of investigation,
audit, legal and other professional fees related to the 2006-2007 stock option investigation and
the filing of the restated financial statements and related litigation.
Costs of restatement and related legal activities were $1.2 million for the three months ended
March 31, 2011 primarily due to litigation expense associated with the derivative lawsuit related
to the 2006-2007 stock option investigation. Until all the litigation and related issues are
resolved, we anticipate that there could be additional amounts relating to these matters in the
future.
Gain from settlement:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
Change in |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
(Dollars in millions) |
|
|
|
|
|
Gain from settlement |
|
$ |
6.2 |
|
|
$ |
95.9 |
|
|
|
(93.5 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The settlement with Samsung is a multiple element arrangement for accounting purposes. For a
multiple element arrangement, we are required to determine the fair value of the elements. We
considered several factors in determining the accounting fair value of the elements of the
settlement with Samsung which included a third party valuation using an income approach, the
Black-Scholes option pricing model and a residual approach (collectively the Fair Value). The
total gain from settlement is $133.0 million of which $6.2 million was recognized during the three
months ended March 31, 2011 and $126.8 million was recognized during the year ended December 31,
2010. The gain from settlement represents the Fair Value of the cash consideration allocated to the
resolution of the antitrust litigation settlement and the residual value of other elements.
Interest and other income (expense), net:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
Change in |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
(Dollars in millions) |
|
|
|
|
|
Interest income and other income (expense), net |
|
$ |
(0.6 |
) |
|
$ |
0.4 |
|
|
|
(253.4 |
)% |
Interest expense on convertible notes |
|
|
(5.2 |
) |
|
|
(6.0 |
) |
|
|
(14.0 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest and other income (expense), net |
|
$ |
(5.8 |
) |
|
$ |
(5.6 |
) |
|
|
4.2 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
39
Interest income and other income (expense), net consists primarily of interest income
generated from investments in high quality fixed income securities offset by interest expense
associated with our imputed facility lease obligations.
Interest expense on convertible notes consists of non-cash interest expense related to the
amortization of the debt discount on the 5% convertible senior notes due 2014 (the 2014 Notes)
and the zero coupon convertible senior notes due 2010 (the 2010 Notes) which were repaid during the first quarter of 2010, as well as the coupon
interest related to the 2014 Notes. We expect interest expense to increase steadily as the 2014
Notes reach maturity.
Provision for income taxes:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
Change in |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
Percentage |
|
|
|
(Dollars in millions) |
|
|
|
|
|
Provision for income taxes |
|
$ |
6.8 |
|
|
$ |
45.7 |
|
|
|
(85.2 |
)% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Effective tax rate |
|
|
266.1 |
% |
|
|
23.2 |
% |
|
|
|
|
Our effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2011 is higher than the U.S.
statutory tax rate applied to our net income due to foreign withholding taxes, a full valuation
allowance on our U.S. net deferred tax assets and foreign losses with no current tax benefit
recorded, partially offset by foreign tax credits. The effective tax rate was also significantly
impacted by the withholding taxes levied on the gross Samsung royalty income. As the Company
continues to maintain a valuation allowance against its U.S. deferred tax assets, the Companys tax
provision is based primarily on the Korean withholding taxes, other foreign taxes and state taxes.
Our effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2010 is lower than the U.S.
statutory tax rate applied to our net income due to a full valuation allowance on our U.S. net
deferred tax assets, partially offset by foreign withholding taxes and U.S. and state alternative
minimum taxes. During the three months ended March 31, 2010, we paid withholding taxes of $42.6
million to the Korean tax authorities related to the payments received under the settlement with
Samsung. We recorded a provision for income taxes of $45.7 million for the three months ended March
31, 2010, which is primarily comprised of the Korean taxes and state alternative minimum taxes.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
December 31, |
|
|
|
2011 |
|
|
2010 |
|
|
|
(In millions) |
|
Cash and cash equivalents |
|
$ |
182.2 |
|
|
$ |
215.3 |
|
Marketable securities |
|
|
326.4 |
|
|
|
296.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities |
|
$ |
508.6 |
|
|
$ |
512.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
|
March 31, |
|
|
2011 |
|
2010 |
|
|
(In millions) |
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities |
|
$ |
(4.5 |
) |
|
$ |
177.5 |
|
Net cash used in investing activities |
|
$ |
(37.8 |
) |
|
$ |
(97.5 |
) |
Net cash provided by financing activities |
|
$ |
9.3 |
|
|
$ |
31.8 |
|
Liquidity
Our management continues to believe that total cash, cash equivalents and marketable
securities will continue at adequate levels to finance our operations, projected capital
expenditures and commitments for the next twelve months. Cash needs for the three months ended
March 31, 2011 were funded primarily from financing activities due to proceeds from the landlord
for tenant improvements related to the lease in Sunnyvale and the issuance of common stock under
our equity incentive plans.
Operating Activities
40
Cash used in operating activities of $4.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2011
was primarily attributable to the net loss adjusted for certain non-cash items including
stock-based compensation expense, non-cash interest expense, depreciation and amortization expense.
Additionally cash used in operating activities included a decrease in accrued salaries and benefits
related to the payout of the 2010 CIP offset by increases in accounts payable due to the timing of
vendor payments.
Cash provided by operating activities of $177.5 million for the three months ended March 31,
2010 was primarily attributable to the net income, which includes revenue and gain related to the
settlement with Samsung, adjusted for non-cash items, including stock-based compensation expense,
non-cash interest expense, depreciation and amortization expense. Changes in operating assets and
liabilities for the three months ended March 31, 2010 primarily included increases in accrued
salaries due to the 2010 CIP and in income tax payable offset by decreases in accrued litigation
and accounts payable due to the timing of vendor payments.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities of approximately $37.8 million for the three months ended
March 31, 2011 primarily consisted of purchases of available-for-sale marketable securities of
$94.2 million, partially offset by proceeds from the maturities of available-for-sale marketable
securities of $62.8 million. In addition, we paid $6.5 million to acquire property and equipment,
primarily computer software.
Cash used in investing activities of approximately $97.5 million for the three months ended
March 31, 2010 primarily consisted of purchases of available-for-sale marketable securities of
$136.5 million, partially offset by proceeds from the maturities of available-for-sale marketable
securities of $39.6 million. In addition, we paid $0.5 million to acquire property and equipment,
primarily computer equipment.
Financing Activities
Cash provided by financing activities was $9.3 million for the three months ended March 31,
2011 due to proceeds of $6.7 million received from the landlord for the tenant improvements related
to the lease in Sunnyvale and $3.3 million from issuance of common stock under equity incentive
plans. We also made payments of $0.4 million related to the principal payments against the lease
financing obligation and $0.3 million under an installment payment plan to acquire intangible
assets.
Cash provided by financing activities was $31.8 million for the three months ended March 31,
2010 due to proceeds received of $192.0 million from the issuance of common stock pursuant to the
Stock Purchase Agreement with Samsung and $3.7 million from issuance of common stock under equity
incentive plans. On February 1, 2010, the Company paid upon maturity the remaining $137.0 million
in face value of the 2010 Notes. Additionally, we repurchased stock with
an aggregate price of $26.5 million under our share repurchase program. We also made payment of
$0.4 million under installment payment plan to acquire intangible assets.
We currently anticipate that existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities
balances and cash flows from operations will be adequate to meet our cash needs for at least the
next 12 months. We do not anticipate any liquidity constraints as a result of either the current
credit environment or investment fair value fluctuations. This includes any possible payment in the
third quarter of 2011 in connection with the contingently redeemable common stock discussed below.
Additionally, we have the intent and ability to hold our debt investments that have unrealized
losses in accumulated other comprehensive income for a sufficient period of time to allow for
recovery of the principal amounts invested. We continually monitor the credit risk in our portfolio
and mitigate our credit risk exposures in accordance with our policies. As described elsewhere in
this Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and
this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, we are involved in ongoing litigation related to our
intellectual property and our past stock option investigation. Any adverse settlements or judgments
in any of this litigation could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations, cash
balances and cash flows in the period in which such events occur.
Contractual Obligations
On December 15, 2009, we entered into a definitive triple net space lease agreement with MT
SPE, LLC (the Landlord) whereby we lease approximately 125,000 square feet of office space
located at 1050 Enterprise Way in Sunnyvale, California (the Sunnyvale Lease). The office space
is used for our corporate headquarters, as well as engineering, marketing and administrative
operations and activities. We moved to the new premises in the fourth quarter of 2010 following
substantial completion of leasehold improvements. The Sunnyvale Lease has a term of 120 months from
the commencement date. The initial annual base rent is $3.7 million, subject to a full abatement of
rent for the first six months of the Sunnyvale Lease term, but with the rent for the seventh month
41
paid in December
2009 in order to gain access to the building. The annual base rent increases each year to
certain fixed amounts over the course of the term as set forth in the Sunnyvale Lease and will be
$4.8 million in the tenth year. In addition to the base rent, we also pay operating expenses,
insurance expenses, real estate taxes and a management fee. We have two options to extend the
Sunnyvale Lease for a period of 60 months each and a one-time option to terminate the Sunnyvale
Lease after 84 months in exchange for an early termination fee.
Since certain improvements we constructed are considered structural in nature and we are
responsible for any cost overruns, for accounting purposes, we are treated in substance as the
owner of the construction project during the construction period. Accordingly, as of December 31,
2009, we have capitalized $25.1 million in property, plant and equipment based on the estimated
fair value of the portion of the unfinished building along with a corresponding imputed financing
obligation for the same amount.
Following substantial completion of construction in the fourth quarter of 2010, we occupied
the building. At completion, we concluded that we retained sufficient continuing involvement to
preclude de-recognition of the building under the FASB authoritative guidance applicable to the
sale leasebacks of real estate. As such, we continue to account for the building as owned real
estate and to record an imputed financing obligation for our obligation to the legal owner. In
addition, we capitalized $1.5 million of interest on the building with a corresponding imputed
financing obligation for the same amount.
Pursuant to the terms of the Sunnyvale Lease, the landlord has agreed to reimburse us
approximately $9.1 million, of which $0.3 million was received in 2010 and $6.7 million was
received in the first quarter of 2011. We expect the remaining $2.1 million to be received in the
second quarter of 2011. We recognized the $7.0 million reimbursement as additional imputed
financing obligation under the FASB authoritative guidance as such payment from the landlord is
deemed to be an imputed financing obligation. Monthly lease payments on the facility are allocated
between the land element of the lease (which is accounted for as an operating lease) and the
imputed financing obligation. The imputed financing obligation is amortized using the effective
interest method and the interest rate determined in accordance with the requirements of sale
leaseback accounting. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, we recognized in our statement of
operations $0.7 million of interest expense in connection with the imputed financing obligation. At
March 31, 2011, the imputed financing obligation balance in connection with the new facility was
$33.6 million which was classified under long-term imputed financing obligation. At the end of the
initial ten year lease term, should we decide not to renew the lease, we would reverse the equal
amounts of the net book value of the building and the corresponding imputed financing obligation.
As of March 31, 2011, our material contractual obligations are (in thousands):
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Remainder |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
of 2011 |
|
|
2012 |
|
|
2013 |
|
|
2014 |
|
|
2015 |
|
|
Thereafter |
|
Contractual obligations (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Imputed financing obligation |
|
$ |
48,710 |
|
|
$ |
3,615 |
|
|
$ |
4,914 |
|
|
$ |
5,035 |
|
|
$ |
5,155 |
|
|
$ |
5,275 |
|
|
$ |
24,716 |
|
Leases |
|
|
4,791 |
|
|
|
2,086 |
|
|
|
1,656 |
|
|
|
371 |
|
|
|
357 |
|
|
|
321 |
|
|
|
|
|
Software licenses (2) |
|
|
5,088 |
|
|
|
2,699 |
|
|
|
2,189 |
|
|
|
200 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Convertible notes |
|
|
172,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
172,500 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest payments related to
convertible notes |
|
|
30,188 |
|
|
|
8,625 |
|
|
|
8,625 |
|
|
|
8,625 |
|
|
|
4,313 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
|
$ |
261,277 |
|
|
$ |
17,025 |
|
|
$ |
17,384 |
|
|
$ |
14,231 |
|
|
$ |
182,325 |
|
|
$ |
5,596 |
|
|
$ |
24,716 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) |
|
The above table does not reflect possible payments in connection with
uncertain tax benefits of approximately $13.1 million including $8.4
million recorded as a reduction of long-term deferred tax assets and
$4.7 million in long-term income taxes payable, as of March 31, 2011.
As noted in Note 9, Income Taxes, of Notes to Unaudited Consolidated
Financial Statements of this Form 10-Q, although it is possible that
some of the unrecognized tax benefits could be settled within the next
12 months, we cannot reasonably estimate the outcome at this time. The
above table does not reflect possible payments in connection with the
contingently redeemable common stock. |
|
(2) |
|
We have commitments with various software vendors for non-cancellable
license agreements that generally have terms longer than one year. The
above table summarizes those contractual obligations as of March 31,
2011 which are also listed on our balance sheet under current and
other long-term liabilities. |
Contingently Redeemable Common Stock
42
On January 19, 2010, pursuant to the terms of the Stock Purchase Agreement, Samsung purchased
for cash from us 9.6 million shares of our common stock (the Shares) with certain restrictions
and put rights. The issuance of the Shares by us to Samsung was made through a private transaction.
The Stock Purchase Agreement provides Samsung a one-time put right, beginning 18 months after the
date of the Stock Purchase Agreement and extending to 19 months after the date of the Stock
Purchase Agreement, to elect to put back to us up to 4.8 million of the Shares at the original
issue price of $20.885 per share (for an aggregate purchase price of up to $100.0 million). The 4.8
million shares have been recorded as contingently redeemable common stock on the consolidated
balance sheet as of March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010.
The Stock Purchase Agreement prohibits the transfer of the Shares by Samsung for 18 months
after the date of the Stock Purchase Agreement, subject to certain exceptions. After expiration of
the transfer restriction period on July 18, 2011, the Stock Purchase Agreement provides that
Samsung may transfer a limited number of shares on a daily basis, provides us with a right of first
offer for proposed transfers above such daily limits, and, if no sale occurs to us under the right
of first offer, allows Samsung to transfer the Shares. Under the Stock Purchase Agreement, we have
also agreed that after the transfer restriction period, Samsung will have certain rights to
register the Shares for sale under the securities laws of the United States, subject to customary
terms and conditions.
Share Repurchase Program
During the three months ended March 31, 2011, we did not repurchase any shares of our Common
Stock. As of March 31, 2011, we had repurchased a cumulative total of approximately 26.3 million
shares of our Common Stock with an aggregate price of approximately $428.9 million since the
commencement of the program in 2001. As of March 31, 2011, there remained an outstanding
authorization to repurchase approximately 5.2 million shares of our outstanding Common Stock.
We record stock repurchases as a reduction to stockholders equity. We record a portion of the
purchase price of the repurchased shares as an increase to accumulated deficit when the price of
the shares repurchased exceeds the average original proceeds per share received from the issuance
of Common Stock.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based
upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements
requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets,
liabilities, revenue and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. On
an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including those related to revenue recognition,
investments, income taxes, litigation and other contingencies. We base our estimates on historical
experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the
circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values
of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may
differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. Our critical accounting
estimates include those regarding (1) revenue recognition, (2) litigation and settlements, (3)
income taxes, (4) stock-based compensation, (5) marketable securities, (6) non-marketable
securities and (7) convertible notes. For a discussion of our critical accounting estimates, see
Item 7. Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2010.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 2 Recent Accounting Pronouncements of Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial
Statements for discussion of recent accounting pronouncements including the respective expected
dates of adoption.
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
We are exposed to financial market risks, primarily arising from the effect of interest rate
fluctuations on our investment portfolio. Interest rate fluctuation may arise from changes in the
markets view of the quality of the security issuer, the overall economic outlook, and the time to
maturity of our portfolio. We mitigate this risk by investing only in high quality, highly liquid
instruments. Securities with original maturities of one year or less must be rated by two of the
three industry standard rating agencies as follows: A1 by Standard & Poors, P1 by Moodys and/or
F-1 by Fitch. Securities with original maturities of greater than one year must be rated by two of
the following industry standard rating agencies as follows: AA- by Standard & Poors, Aa3 by
Moodys and/or AA- by Fitch. By corporate policy, we limit the amount of exposure to $15.0 million
or 10% of the portfolio, whichever is lower, for any one non-U.S. Government issuer. A single U.S.
Agency can represent up to 25% of the portfolio. No more than 20% of the total
43
portfolio may be invested in the securities of an industry sector, with money market fund
investments evaluated separately. Our policy requires that at least 10% of the portfolio be in
securities with a maturity of 90 days or less. We may make investments in U.S. Treasuries, U.S.
Agencies, corporate bonds and municipal bonds and notes with maturities up to 36 months. However,
the bias of our investment portfolio is shorter maturities. All investments must be U.S. dollar
denominated.
We invest our cash equivalents and marketable securities in a variety of U.S. dollar financial
instruments such as Treasuries, Government Agencies, Commercial Paper and Corporate Notes. Our
policy specifically prohibits trading securities for the sole purposes of realizing trading
profits. However, we may liquidate a portion of our portfolio if we experience unforeseen liquidity
requirements. In such a case if the environment has been one of rising interest rates we may
experience a realized loss, similarly, if the environment has been one of declining interest rates
we may experience a realized gain. As of March 31, 2011, we had an investment portfolio of fixed
income marketable securities of $499.0 million including cash equivalents. If market interest rates
were to increase immediately and uniformly by 1.0% from the levels as of March 31, 2011, the fair
value of the portfolio would decline by approximately $1.3 million. Actual results may differ
materially from this sensitivity analysis.
The table below summarizes the amortized cost, fair value, unrealized gains (losses) and
related weighted average interest rates for our cash equivalents and marketable securities
portfolio as of March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
March 31, 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Weighted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Rate of |
|
(Dollars in thousands) |
|
Fair Value |
|
|
Cost |
|
|
Gains |
|
|
Losses |
|
|
Return |
|
Money Market Funds |
|
$ |
172,693 |
|
|
$ |
172,693 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
0.02 |
% |
U.S. Government Bonds and Notes |
|
|
177,888 |
|
|
|
177,863 |
|
|
|
29 |
|
|
|
(4 |
) |
|
|
0.23 |
% |
Corporate Notes, Bonds and Commercial Paper |
|
|
148,453 |
|
|
|
148,552 |
|
|
|
9 |
|
|
|
(108 |
) |
|
|
0.38 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
|
499,034 |
|
|
|
499,108 |
|
|
|
38 |
|
|
|
(112 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Cash |
|
|
9,541 |
|
|
|
9,541 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
$ |
508,575 |
|
|
$ |
508,649 |
|
|
$ |
38 |
|
|
$ |
(112 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Gross |
|
|
Weighted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amortized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Unrealized |
|
|
Rate of |
|
(Dollars in thousands) |
|
Fair Value |
|
|
Cost |
|
|
Gains |
|
|
Losses |
|
|
Return |
|
Money Market Funds |
|
$ |
132,364 |
|
|
$ |
132,364 |
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
$ |
|
|
|
|
0.04 |
% |
U.S. Government Bonds and Notes |
|
|
266,817 |
|
|
|
266,840 |
|
|
|
29 |
|
|
|
(52 |
) |
|
|
0.26 |
% |
Corporate Notes, Bonds and Commercial Paper |
|
|
95,724 |
|
|
|
95,773 |
|
|
|
8 |
|
|
|
(57 |
) |
|
|
0.39 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
|
494,905 |
|
|
|
494,977 |
|
|
|
37 |
|
|
|
(109 |
) |
|
|
|
|
Cash |
|
|
17,104 |
|
|
|
17,104 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities |
|
$ |
512,009 |
|
|
$ |
512,081 |
|
|
$ |
37 |
|
|
$ |
(109 |
) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The fair value of our convertible notes is subject to interest rate risk, market risk and
other factors due to the convertible feature. The fair value of the convertible notes will
generally increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise. In addition, the
fair value of the convertible notes will generally increase as our common stock prices increase and
decrease as the stock prices fall. The interest and market value changes affect the fair value of
our convertible notes but do not impact our financial position, cash flows or results of operations
due to the fixed nature of the debt obligation. Additionally, we do not carry the convertible notes
at fair value. We present the fair value of the convertible notes for required disclosure purposes.
The following table summarizes certain information related to our 2014 Notes as of March 31, 2011:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fair Value Given a |
|
Fair Value Given a |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10% |
|
10% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Increase in Market |
|
Decrease in Market |
(in thousands) |
|
Fair Value |
|
Prices |
|
Prices |
5% Convertible Senior Notes due 2014 |
|
$ |
219,938 |
|
|
$ |
241,932 |
|
|
$ |
197,944 |
|
We invoice our customers in U.S. dollars. Although the fluctuation of currency exchange rates
may impact our customers, and thus indirectly impact us, we do not attempt to hedge this indirect
and speculative risk. Our overseas operations consist primarily of one design center in India and
small business development offices in Germany, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. We monitor our foreign
currency exposure; however, as of March 31, 2011, we believe our foreign currency exposure is not
material enough to warrant foreign currency hedging.
Item 4. Controls and Procedures
44
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to
be disclosed in the reports we file or submit pursuant to the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934
as amended (Exchange Act) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods
specified in the rules and forms of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and that such
information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive
Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required
disclosure.
Management, with the participation of the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer,
evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures
as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act as of the end of the period covered
by this report. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
have concluded that, as of March 31, 2011, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended
March 31, 2011 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our
internal control over financial reporting. The processes relating to the assets acquired under a
business combination from Imagine Design Inc. in December 2010 was integrated into our existing
system of internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended March 31, 2011.
PART IIOTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings
The information required by this item regarding legal proceedings is incorporated by reference
to the information set forth in Note 13 Litigation and Asserted Claims of Notes to Unaudited
Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-Q.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Because of the following factors, as well as other variables affecting our operating results,
past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical
trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. See also Special Note
Regarding Forward-Looking Statements elsewhere in this report.
Risks Associated With Our Business, Industry and Market Conditions
If market leaders do not adopt our innovations, our results of operations could decline.
An important part of our strategy is to penetrate our target market segments by working with
leaders in those market segments. This strategy is designed to encourage other participants in
those segments to follow such leaders in adopting our innovations. If a high profile industry
participant adopts our innovations but fails to achieve success with its products or adopts and
achieves success with a competing technology, our reputation and sales could be adversely affected.
For example, if our commercial relationships with Samsung do not achieve success, our reputation
could be adversely affected given the market position of Samsung as a leading memory manufacturer.
In addition, some industry participants have adopted, and others may in the future adopt, a
strategy of disparaging our memory solutions adopted by their competitors or a strategy of
otherwise undermining the market adoption of our solutions.
We target system companies to adopt our chip interface technologies, particularly those that
develop and market high volume business and consumer products, which were traditionally focused on
PCs, including PC graphics processors, and video game consoles, and now include HDTVs, cellular and
digital phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras and other consumer
electronics that incorporate all varieties of memory and chip interfaces. In particular, our
strategy includes gaining acceptance of our technology in high volume consumer applications,
including video game consoles, such as the Sony PlayStation®3, HDTVs and set top boxes.
As we diversify our technologies, such as through the establishment of our LDT group, we will seek
out other target markets in and related to computing, gaming and graphics, consumer electronics,
mobile and general lighting applications. We are subject to many risks beyond our control that
influence whether or not a potential licensee or partner company will adopt our technologies,
including, among others:
45
|
|
|
competition faced by a company in its particular industry; |
|
|
|
|
the timely introduction and market acceptance of a companys products; |
|
|
|
|
the engineering, sales and marketing and management capabilities of a company; |
|
|
|
|
technical challenges unrelated to our innovations faced by a company in developing its
products; |
|
|
|
|
the financial and other resources of a company; |
|
|
|
|
the supply of semiconductors from our memory and chip interface licensees in sufficient
quantities and at commercially attractive prices; |
|
|
|
|
the ability to establish the prices at which the chips containing our chip interfaces are
made available to system companies; and |
|
|
|
|
the degree to which our licensees promote our innovations to their customers. |
There can be no assurance that consumer products that currently use our technology will
continue to do so, nor can there be any assurance that the consumer products that incorporate our
technology will be successful in their markets in order to generate expected royalties, nor can
there be any assurance that any of our technologies selected for licensing will be implemented in a
commercially developed or distributed product. If any of these events occur and market leaders do
not successfully adopt our technologies, our strategy may not be successful and, as a result, our
results of operations could decline.
We have traditionally operated in an industry that is highly cyclical and in which the number of
our potential customers may be in decline as a result of industry consolidation, and we face
intense competition in all of our target markets that may cause our results of operations to
suffer.
The semiconductor industry is intensely competitive and has been impacted by price erosion,
rapid technological change, short product life cycles, cyclical market patterns and increasing
foreign and domestic competition. As the semiconductor industry is highly cyclical, significant
economic downturns characterized by diminished demand, erosion of average selling prices,
production overcapacity and production capacity constraints could affect the semiconductor
industry. We have just emerged from such a period of economic downturn. As a result, we may achieve
a reduced number of licenses, tightening of customers operating budgets, difficulty or inability
of our customers to pay our licensing fees, extensions of the approval process for new licenses and
consolidation among our customers, all of which may adversely affect the demand for our technology
and may cause us to experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in our operating results.
Many of our customers operate in industries that have experienced significant declines as a
result of the recent economic downturn. In particular, DRAM manufacturers, which make up a majority
of our existing and potential licensees, have suffered material losses and other adverse effects to
their businesses. These factors may result in industry consolidation as companies seek to reduce
costs and improve profitability through business combinations. Consolidation among our existing
DRAM and other customers may result in loss of revenues under existing license agreements.
Consolidation among companies in the DRAM and other industries within which we license our
technology may reduce the number of future licensees for our products and services. In either case,
consolidation in the DRAM and other industries in which we operate may negatively impact our
short-term and long-term business prospects, licensing revenues and results of operations.
We face competition from semiconductor and intellectual property companies who provide their
own DDR memory chip interface technology and solutions. In addition, most DRAM manufacturers,
including our
XDRtm licensees, produce versions of DRAM such as SDR, DDRx,
GDDRx SDRAM and LPDDRx which compete with
XDRtm chips. We believe that our
principal competition for memory chip interfaces may come from our licensees and prospective
licensees, some of which are evaluating and developing products based on technologies that they
contend or may contend will not require a license from us. In addition, our competitors are also
taking a system approach similar to ours in seeking to solve the application needs of system
companies. Many of these companies are larger and may have better access to financial, technical
and other resources than we possess. Wider applications of other developing memory technologies,
including FLASH memory, may also pose competition to our licensed memory solutions.
46
JEDEC has standardized what it calls extensions of DDR, known as DDR2 and DDR3. Other efforts
are underway to create other products including those sometimes referred to as GDDR4 and GDDR5, as
well as new ways to integrate products such as system-in-package DRAM. To the extent that these
alternatives might provide comparable system performance at lower or similar cost than
XDRtm memory chips, or are perceived to require the payment of no or lower
royalties, or to the extent other factors influence the industry, our licensees and prospective
licensees may adopt and promote alternative technologies. Even to the extent we determine that such
alternative technologies infringe our patents, there can be no assurance that we would be able to
negotiate agreements that would result in royalties being paid to us without litigation, which
could be costly and the results of which would be uncertain.
The display industry is intensely competitive and is impacted by rapid technological change,
shifting government mandates, cyclical market patterns and increasing foreign and domestic
competition. In particular, our LDT group faces competition from system and subsystem providers of
backlighting and general lighting solutions, some of which have substantial resources and
operations.
If for any of these reasons we cannot effectively compete in these primary market segments,
our results of operations could suffer.
If our NBG does not succeed, our results of operations may be adversely affected.
The future success of our NBG, which includes our LDT group, depends on our ability to develop
new or emerging licensing opportunities, diversify our business into lighting and displays, mobile
communications and additional semiconductor technologies, and, specifically for our LDT group,
improve the visual capabilities, form factor, power efficiency and cost-effectiveness of
backlighting of LCD displays in products for computing, gaming and graphics, consumer electronics,
mobile and general lighting applications.
We will need to keep pace with rapid changes in advanced lighting and optoelectronics
technology, changing consumer requirements, new product introductions and evolving industry
standards, any of which could render our existing technology obsolete if we fail to respond in a
timely manner. The extent to which companies in the general lighting industry adopt solid state
lighting and license our lighting technologies, and the timing of such adoption and licensing, if
it occurs at all, is subject to many factors beyond our control and is not predictable by us. We
are subject to many risks beyond our control that influence whether or not a potential licensee or
partner company will adopt and license our lighting technologies.
The development, application and licensing of new backlit lighting technologies is a complex
process subject to a number of uncertainties, including the integration of our LDT group into the
rest of our company and the limited resources of the LDT group. Our competitors have significant
marketing, workforce, financial and other resources and longer operating history which could make
acceptance of our lighting technologies more difficult. If others develop innovative proprietary
lighting technology that is superior to ours or if we fail to accurately anticipate technology and
market trends, respond on a timely basis with our own new enhancements and technology, and achieve
broad market acceptance of these enhancements and technology, our competitive position may be
harmed and our operating results may be adversely affected.
In order to grow, we may have to invest more resources in research and development than
anticipated, which could increase our operating expenses and negatively impact our operating
results.
If new competitors, technological advances by existing competitors, our entry into new
markets, and/or development of new technologies or other competitive factors require us to invest
significantly greater resources than anticipated in our research and development efforts, our
operating expenses would increase. For the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, research and
development expenses were $23.3 million and $21.7 million, respectively, including
stock-compensation of approximately $2.5 million and $2.6 million, respectively. If we are required
to invest significantly greater resources than anticipated in research and development efforts
without an increase in revenue, especially with respect to our LDT group and any other new
technologies that we pursue outside of our core memory and chip interface technologies, our
operating results could decline. Research and development expenses are likely to fluctuate from
time to time to the extent we make periodic incremental investments in research and development,
including as a result of our investment in new technologies, and these investments may be
independent of our level of revenue. In order to grow, which may include entering new markets
and/or developing new technologies, we anticipate that we will continue to devote substantial
resources to research and development. We expect these expenses to increase in absolute dollars in
the foreseeable future due to the increased complexity and the greater number of products under
development as well as selectively hiring additional employees.
Our revenue is concentrated in a few customers, and if we lose any of these customers, our revenue
may decrease substantially.
47
We have a high degree of revenue concentration. As a result of our settlement with Samsung,
Samsung accounted for a significant portion of our ongoing licensing revenue since 2010. Our top
five licensees represented approximately 74% and 94% of our revenues for the three months ended
March 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, revenues from
Elpida, NVIDIA, Samsung and Toshiba each accounted for 10% or more of our total revenue. For the
three months ended March 31, 2010, revenue from Samsung accounted for 10% or more of our total
revenue. We expect to continue to experience significant revenue concentration for the foreseeable
future.
In addition, some of our commercial agreements require us to provide certain customers with
the lowest royalty rate that we provide to other customers for similar technologies, volumes and
schedules. These clauses may limit our ability to effectively price differently among our
customers, to respond quickly to market forces, or otherwise to compete on the basis of price. The
particular licensees which account for revenue concentration have varied from period to period as a
result of the addition of new contracts, expiration of existing contracts, renewal of existing
contracts, industry consolidation, including the combination in 2010 of NEC and Renesas, the
expiration of deferred revenue schedules under existing contracts, and the volumes and prices at
which the licensees have recently sold licensed semiconductors to system companies. These
variations are expected to continue in the foreseeable future, although we anticipate that revenue
will continue to be concentrated in a limited number of licensees.
We are in negotiations with licensees and prospective licensees to reach patent license
agreements for DRAM devices and DRAM controllers. We expect that patent license royalties will
continue to vary from period to period based on our success in renewing existing license agreements
and adding new licensees, as well as the level of variation in our licensees reported shipment
volumes, sales price and mix, offset in part by the proportion of licensee payments that are fixed.
However, we cannot provide any assurance that we will reach agreement on renewal terms or that the
royalty rates we will be entitled to receive under the new agreements will be as favorable to us as
our current agreements. If we are unsuccessful in renewing any of these patent license agreements,
our results of operations may decline significantly.
If we cannot respond to rapid technological change in our target markets by developing new
innovations in a timely and cost-effective manner, our operating results will suffer.
We derive most of our revenue from our chip interface technologies that we have patented. We
expect that this dependence on our fundamental technology will continue for the foreseeable future.
The semiconductor industry is characterized by rapid technological change, with new generations of
semiconductors being introduced periodically and with ongoing improvements. The introduction or
market acceptance of competing chip interfaces that render our chip interfaces less desirable or
obsolete would have a rapid and material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and
financial condition. The announcement of new chip interfaces by us could cause licensees or system
companies to delay or defer entering into arrangements for the use of our current chip interfaces,
which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations. We are dependent on the semiconductor industry to develop test solutions that are
adequate to test our chip interfaces and to supply such test solutions to our customers and us.
Our continued success depends on our ability to introduce and patent enhancements and new
generations of our chip interface technologies that keep pace with other changes in the
semiconductor industry and which achieve rapid market acceptance. We must continually devote
significant engineering resources to addressing the ever increasing need for higher speed chip
interfaces associated with increases in the speed of microprocessors and other controllers. The
technical innovations that are required for us to be successful are inherently complex and require
long development cycles, and there can be no assurance that our development efforts will ultimately
be successful. In addition, these innovations must be:
|
|
|
completed before changes in the semiconductor industry render them obsolete; |
|
|
|
|
available when system companies require these innovations; and |
|
|
|
|
sufficiently compelling to cause semiconductor manufacturers to enter into licensing
arrangements with us for these new technologies. |
Significant technological innovations generally require a substantial investment before their
commercial viability can be determined, and this concept applies to all of our target markets.
There can be no assurance that we have accurately estimated the amount of resources required to
complete our innovation efforts, or that we will have, or be able to expend, sufficient resources
required for the development of our innovations. In addition, there is market risk associated with
these products for which we develop
48
technological innovations, and there can be no assurance that unit volumes, and their
associated royalties, will occur. If our technology fails to capture or maintain a portion of the
high volume target consumer market, our business results could suffer.
We have in the past and may in the future make acquisitions or enter into mergers, strategic
transactions or other arrangements that could cause our business to suffer.
As part of our strategic initiatives, we currently are evaluating, and expect to continue to
engage in, investments in or acquisitions of companies, products, patents or technologies, and the
entry into strategic transactions or other arrangements. We completed a number of acquisitions in
2009 and 2010. These acquisitions, investments, transactions or arrangements are likely to range in
size, some of which may be significant. After completing our acquisitions, we may experience
difficulty integrating that companys or divisions personnel and operations, which could
negatively affect our operating results. In addition:
|
|
|
the key personnel of the acquired entity or business may decide not to work for us or may
not perform according to our expectations; |
|
|
|
|
we may experience additional legal, financial and accounting challenges and complexities
in areas such as licensing, tax planning, cash management and financial reporting; |
|
|
|
|
our ongoing business, including our operations, technology development and deliveries to
our customers, may be disrupted or receive insufficient management attention, and employee
retention and productivity could also suffer; |
|
|
|
|
we may not be able to recognize the financial benefits we anticipated and/or we may
suffer losses, both with respect to our ongoing business and the acquired entity or
business; |
|
|
|
|
our increasing international presence resulting from acquisitions may increase our
exposure to international currency, tax and political risks; and |
|
|
|
|
our lack of experience in new markets, products or technologies may cause us to fail to
recognize the forecasted financial and strategic benefits of the acquisition. |
In connection with our strategic initiatives related to future acquisitions or mergers,
strategic transactions or other arrangements, we may incur substantial expenses regardless of
whether any transactions occur. Further, the risks described above may be exacerbated as a result
of managing multiple acquisitions simultaneously.
In addition, we may be required to assume the liabilities of the companies or related to the
businesses we acquire. The assumption of such liabilities may include those related to intellectual
property infringement or indemnification of customers of acquired businesses for similar claims,
which could materially and adversely affect our business.
We may have to incur debt or issue equity securities to pay for any future acquisition, the
issuance of which could involve restrictive covenants or be dilutive to our existing stockholders.
Some of our revenue is subject to the pricing policies of our licensees over whom we have no
control.
We have no control over our licensees pricing of their products and there can be no assurance
that licensee products using or containing our chip interfaces will be competitively priced or will
sell in significant volumes. One important requirement for our memory chip interfaces is for any
premium charged by our licensees in the price of memory and controller chips over alternatives to
be reasonable in comparison to the perceived benefits of the chip interfaces. If the benefits of
our technology do not match the price premium charged by our licensees, the resulting decline in
sales of products incorporating our technology could harm our operating results.
Our licensing cycle is lengthy and costly and our marketing and licensing efforts may be
unsuccessful.
The process of persuading customers to adopt and license our chip interface and other
technologies can be lengthy and, even if successful, there can be no assurance that our
technologies will be used in a product that is ultimately brought to market, achieves commercial
acceptance, or results in significant royalties to us. We generally incur significant marketing and
sales expenses prior to entering into our license agreements, generating a license fee and
establishing a royalty stream from each licensee. The length of time
49
it takes to establish a new licensing relationship can take many months or even years. In
addition, our ongoing intellectual property litigation and regulatory actions have and will likely
continue to have an impact on our ability to enter into new licenses and renewals of licenses. As
such, we may incur costs in any particular period before any associated revenue stream begins, if
at all. If our marketing and sales efforts are very lengthy or unsuccessful, then we may face a
material adverse effect on our business and results of operations as a result of delay or failure
to obtain royalties.
Future revenue is difficult to predict for several reasons, and our failure to predict revenue
accurately may cause us to miss analysts estimates and result in our stock price declining.
Our lengthy and costly license negotiation cycle and our ongoing intellectual property
litigation make our future revenue difficult to predict because we may not be successful in
entering into licenses with our customers on our estimated timelines and we are reliant on the
litigation timelines for any results or settlements, such as our January 2010 settlement with
Samsung.
While some of our license agreements provide for fixed, quarterly royalty payments, many of
our license agreements provide for volume-based royalties, and may also be subject to caps on
royalties in a given period. The sales volume and prices of our licensees products in any given
period can be difficult to predict. As a result, our actual results may differ substantially from
analyst estimates or our forecasts in any given quarter.
In addition, a portion of our revenue comes from development and support services provided to
our licensees. Depending upon the nature of the services, a portion of the related revenue may be
recognized ratably over the support period, or may be recognized according to contract accounting.
Contract revenue accounting may result in deferral of the service fees to the completion of the
contract, or may be recognized over the period in which services are performed on a
percentage-of-completion basis. There can be no assurance that the product development schedule for
these projects will not be changed or delayed. All of these factors make it difficult to predict
future licensing revenue and may result in our missing previously announced earnings guidance or
analysts estimates which would likely cause our stock price to decline.
Our quarterly and annual operating results are unpredictable and fluctuate, which may cause our
stock price to be volatile and decline.
Since many of our revenue components fluctuate and are difficult to predict, and our expenses
are largely independent of revenue in any particular period, it is difficult for us to accurately
forecast revenue and profitability. Factors other than those set forth above, which are beyond our
ability to control or assess in advance, that could cause our operating results to fluctuate
include:
|
|
|
semiconductor and system companies acceptance of our chip interface products; |
|
|
|
|
the success of high volume consumer applications; |
|
|
|
|
the dependence of our royalties upon fluctuating sales volumes and prices of licensed
chips that include our technology; |
|
|
|
|
the seasonal shipment patterns of systems incorporating our chip interface products; |
|
|
|
|
the loss of any strategic relationships with system companies or licensees; |
|
|
|
|
semiconductor or system companies discontinuing major products incorporating our chip
interfaces; |
|
|
|
|
the unpredictability of litigation results or settlements and the timing and amount of
any litigation expenses; |
|
|
|
|
changes in our customers development schedules and levels of expenditure on research and
development; |
|
|
|
|
our licensees terminating or failing to make payments under their current contracts or
seeking to modify such contracts, whether voluntarily or as a result of financial
difficulties; |
|
|
|
|
the results of our efforts to expand into new target markets, such as with our LDT group; |
|
|
|
|
changes in our strategies, including changes in our licensing focus and/or acquisitions
of companies with business models or target markets different from our own; and |
50
|
|
|
changes in the economy and credit market and their effects upon demand for our technology
and the products of our licensees. |
We believe that royalties will continue to represent a majority of total revenue for the
foreseeable future. For the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, royalties accounted for 95%
and 99%, respectively, of our total revenue. Royalties are generally recognized in the quarter in
which we receive a report from a licensee regarding the sale of licensed chips in the prior
quarter; however, royalties are recognized only if collectability is assured. As a result of these
uncertainties and effects being outside of our control, royalty revenue is difficult to predict and
makes it difficult to develop accurate financial forecasts, which could cause our stock price to
become volatile and decline.
A substantial portion of our revenue is derived from sources outside of the United States and this
revenue and our business generally are subject to risks related to international operations that
are often beyond our control.
For the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, revenue received from our international
customers constituted approximately 78% and 97% of our total revenue, respectively. As a result of
our continued focus on international markets, we expect that future revenue derived from
international sources will continue to represent a significant portion of our total revenue.
To date, all of the revenue from international licensees has been denominated in U.S. dollars.
However, to the extent that such licensees sales to systems companies are not denominated in U.S.
dollars, any royalties which are based as a percentage of the customers sales that we receive as a
result of such sales could be subject to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. In addition, if
the effective price of licensed semiconductors sold by our foreign licensees were to increase as a
result of fluctuations in the exchange rate of the relevant currencies, demand for licensed
semiconductors could fall, which in turn would reduce our royalties. We do not use financial
instruments to hedge foreign exchange rate risk.
We currently have international design operations in India and business development operations
in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Germany. Our international operations and revenue are subject to a
variety of risks which are beyond our control, including:
|
|
|
export controls, tariffs, import and licensing restrictions and other trade barriers; |
|
|
|
|
profits, if any, earned abroad being subject to local tax laws and not being repatriated
to the United States or, if repatriation is possible, limited in amount; |
|
|
|
|
treatment of revenue from international sources and changes to tax codes, including being
subject to foreign tax laws and being liable for paying withholding, income or other taxes
in foreign jurisdictions, such as withholding taxes in Korea; |
|
|
|
|
foreign government regulations and changes in these regulations; |
|
|
|
|
social, political and economic instability; |
|
|
|
|
lack of protection of our intellectual property and other contract rights by
jurisdictions in which we may do business to the same extent as the laws of the United
States; |
|
|
|
|
changes in diplomatic and trade relationships; |
|
|
|
|
cultural differences in the conduct of business both with licensees and in conducting
business in our international facilities and international sales offices; |
|
|
|
|
operating centers outside the United States; |
|
|
|
|
hiring, maintaining and managing a workforce remotely and under various legal systems;
and |
|
|
|
|
geo-political issues. |
We and our licensees are subject to many of the risks described above with respect to
companies which are located in different countries, particularly home video game console, PC and
other consumer electronics manufacturers located in Asia and elsewhere. There can be no assurance
that one or more of the risks associated with our international operations could not result in a
material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
51
Weak global economic conditions may adversely affect demand for the products and services of our
licensees.
Our operations and performance depend significantly on worldwide economic conditions, and the
U.S. and world economies are emerging from a prolonged period of weak economic conditions.
Uncertainty about global economic conditions poses a risk as consumers and businesses may postpone
spending in response to tighter credit, negative financial news and declines in income or asset
values, which could have a material negative effect on the demand for the products of our licensees
in the foreseeable future. Other factors that could influence demand include continuing increases
in fuel and energy costs, competitive pressures, including pricing pressures, from companies that
have competing products, changes in the credit market, conditions in the residential real estate
and mortgage markets, consumer confidence, and other macroeconomic factors affecting consumer
spending behavior. If our licensees experience reduced demand for their products as a result of
economic conditions or otherwise, our business and results of operations could be harmed.
If our counterparties are unable to fulfill their financial and other obligations to us, our
business and results of operations may be affected adversely.
Any downturn in economic conditions or other business factors could threaten the financial
health of our counterparties, including companies with whom we have entered into licensing
arrangements, settlement agreements, or that have been subject to litigation judgments that provide
for payments to us, and their ability to fulfill their financial and other obligations to us. Such
financial pressures on our counterparties may eventually lead to bankruptcy proceedings or other
attempts to avoid financial obligations that are due to us under licenses, settlement agreements or
litigation judgments. Because bankruptcy courts have the power to modify or cancel contracts of the
petitioner which remain subject to future performance and alter or discharge payment obligations
related to pre-petition debts, we may receive less than all of the payments that we would otherwise
be entitled to receive from any such counterparty as a result of a bankruptcy proceedings. For
example, in 2009, two of our counterparties, Qimonda and Spansion, were subject to insolvency
proceedings in their applicable jurisdictions as a result of a downturn in business which led to
lower than anticipated or no payment to us. If we are unable to collect all of such payments owed
to us, or if other of our counterparties enter into bankruptcy or otherwise seek to renegotiate
their financial obligations to us as a result of the deterioration of their financial health, our
business and results of operations may be affected adversely.
If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, our business and operations could
suffer.
Our success is dependent upon our ability to identify, attract, compensate, motivate and
retain qualified personnel, especially engineers, who can enhance our existing technologies and
introduce new technologies. Competition for qualified personnel, particularly those with
significant industry experience, is intense, in particular in the San Francisco Bay Area where we
are headquartered and in the area of Bangalore, India where we have a design center. We are also
dependent upon our senior management personnel. The loss of the services of any of our senior
management personnel, or key sales personnel in critical markets, or critical members of staff, or
of a significant number of our engineers could be disruptive to our development efforts or business
relationships and could cause our business and operations to suffer.
The recent natural disaster in Japan could disrupt our operations and those of our customers and
adversely affect our results of operations.
A number of our licensees have headquarters and/or manufacturing facilities in Japan, depend
on other Japanese suppliers for materials and/or depend on the Japanese market for ongoing product
demand. Some of our licensees may also have closed or limited operations resulting from the
recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and may be affected by the consequences of the natural
disaster that has affected Japan, which have included rolling blackouts, decreased access to raw
materials, limited ability to ship inventory and the risk of nuclear contamination. If our
licensees are unable to manufacture and ship the products that incorporate our technology or if our
there is a decrease in product demand in Japan, our royalty revenue may decline as some of our
licenses rely on per unit royalties.
Our operations are subject to risks of natural disasters, acts of war, terrorism or widespread
illness at our domestic and international locations, any one of which could result in a business
stoppage and negatively affect our operating results.
Our business operations depend on our ability to maintain and protect our facility, computer
systems and personnel, which are primarily located in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Francisco
Bay Area is in close proximity to known earthquake fault zones. Our facility and transportation for
our employees are susceptible to damage from earthquakes and other natural disasters such as fires,
52
floods and similar events. Should an earthquake or other catastrophes, such as fires, floods,
power loss, communication failure or similar events disable our facilities, we do not have readily
available alternative facilities from which we could conduct our business, which stoppage could
have a negative effect on our operating results. Acts of terrorism, widespread illness and war
could also have a negative effect at our international and domestic facilities.
Our business and operating results may be harmed if we undertake any restructuring activities or if
we are unable to manage growth in our business.
From time to time, we may undertake to restructure our business. There are several factors
that could cause a restructuring to have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and
results of operations. These include potential disruption of our operations, the development of our
technology, the deliveries to our customers and other aspects of our business. Employee morale and
productivity could also suffer and we may lose employees whom we want to keep. Loss of sales,
service and engineering talent, in particular, could damage our business. Any restructuring would
require substantial management time and attention and may divert management from other important
work. Employee reductions or other restructuring activities also cause us to incur restructuring
and related expenses such as severance expenses. Moreover, we could encounter delays in executing
any restructuring plans, which could cause further disruption and additional unanticipated expense.
Our business historically experienced periods of rapid growth that placed significant demands
on our managerial, operational and financial resources. In the event that we return to such a
period of growth, whether through internal expansion or acquisitions of other businesses or
technologies, we would need to improve and expand our management, operational and financial systems
and controls. We also would need to expand, train and manage our employee base. We cannot assure
you that in connection with any such growth we will be able to timely and effectively meet demand
and maintain the quality standards required by our existing and potential customers and licensees.
If we ineffectively manage our growth or we are unsuccessful in recruiting and retaining personnel,
our business and operating results will be harmed.
Unanticipated changes in our tax rates or in the tax laws and regulations could expose us to
additional income tax liabilities which could affect our operating results and financial condition.
We are subject to income taxes in both the United States and various foreign jurisdictions.
Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision (or benefit) for income
taxes and, in the ordinary course of business, there are many transactions and calculations where
the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective tax rate could be adversely affected by
changes in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the
valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in tax laws and regulations as well as
other factors. Our tax determinations are regularly subject to audit by tax authorities and
developments in those audits could adversely affect our income tax provision. Although we believe
that our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits or tax disputes may be
different from what is reflected in our historical income tax provisions which could affect our
operating results.
Our results of operations could vary as a result of the methods, estimates and judgments we use in
applying our accounting policies.
The methods, estimates and judgments we use in applying our accounting policies have a
significant impact on our results of operations, including the reported amounts of assets,
liabilities, revenue and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, as
described elsewhere in this report. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including those
related to revenue recognition, investments, income taxes, litigation, goodwill and intangibles,
and other contingencies. Such methods, estimates, and judgments are, by their nature, subject to
substantial risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and factors may arise over time that lead us to
change our methods, estimates, and judgments. In addition, actual results may differ from these
estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Changes in those methods, estimates, and judgments could significantly affect our results of
operations. In particular, the measurement of share-based compensation expense requires us to use
valuation methodologies and a number of assumptions, estimates, and conclusions regarding matters
such as expected forfeitures, expected volatility of our share price, and the exercise behavior of
our employees. Changes in these factors may affect both our reported results (including cost of
contract revenue, research and development expenses, marketing, general and administrative expenses
and our effective tax rate) and any forward-looking projections we make that incorporate
projections of share-based compensation expense. Furthermore, there are no means, under applicable
accounting principles, to compare and adjust our reported expense if and when we learn about
additional information that may affect the estimates that we previously made, with the exception of
changes in expected forfeitures of share-based awards.
53
Factors may arise that lead us to change our estimates and assumptions with respect to future
share-based compensation arrangements, resulting in variability in our share-based compensation
expense over time.
Risks Related to Corporate Governance and Capitalization Matters
The price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly, which may make it difficult for holders
to resell their shares when desired or at attractive prices.
Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol RMBS. The
trading price of our common stock has been subject to wide fluctuations which we expect to continue
in the future in response to, among other things, the following:
|
|
|
new litigation or developments in current litigation, including an unfavorable outcome to
us from court proceedings relating to our ongoing litigation and reaction to any settlements
that we enter into with former litigants; |
|
|
|
|
any progress, or lack of progress, real or perceived, in the development of products that
incorporate our innovations; |
|
|
|
|
our signing or not signing new licensees; |
|
|
|
|
announcements of our technological innovations or new products by us, our licensees or
our competitors; |
|
|
|
|
positive or negative reports by securities analysts as to our expected financial results; |
|
|
|
|
developments with respect to patents or proprietary rights and other events or factors; |
|
|
|
|
trading activity related to our share repurchase plans; and |
|
|
|
|
issuance of additional securities by us, such as our issuance of approximately 9.6
million shares of common stock to Samsung in connection with our settlement agreement in
January 2010. |
In addition, the stock market in general, and prices for companies in our industry in
particular, have experienced extreme volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating
performance of such companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect
the price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. Because our outstanding
senior convertible notes are convertible into shares of our common stock, volatility or depressed
prices of our common stock could have a similar effect on the trading price of our notes. In
addition, the existence of the notes may encourage short selling in our common stock by market
participants because the conversion of the notes could depress the price of our common stock. Sales
of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that
those sales may occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In addition,
lack of positive performance in our stock price may adversely affect our ability to retain key
employees.
We have been party to, and may in the future be subject to, lawsuits relating to securities law
matters which may result in unfavorable outcomes and significant judgments, settlements and legal
expenses which could cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to suffer.
In connection with our stock option investigation, we and certain of our current and former
officers and directors, as well as our current auditors, were subject to several stockholder
derivative actions, securities fraud class actions and/or individual lawsuits filed in federal
court against us and certain of our current and former officers and directors. The complaints
generally allege that the defendants violated the federal and state securities laws and state law
claims for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. While we have settled the derivative and securities
fraud class actions, the individual lawsuits continue to be adjudicated. For more information about
the historic litigation described above, see Note 13, Litigation and Asserted Claims, of Notes to
Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-Q. The amount of time to resolve these
current and any future lawsuits is uncertain, and these matters could require significant
management and financial resources which could otherwise be devoted to the operation of our
business. Although we have expensed or accrued for certain liabilities that we believe will result
from certain of these actions, the actual costs and expenses to defend and satisfy all of these
lawsuits and any potential future litigation may exceed our current estimated accruals, possibly
significantly. Unfavorable outcomes and significant judgments, settlements and legal expenses in
litigation related to our past and any future securities law claims could have material adverse
impacts on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and the trading
price of our common stock.
54
We are leveraged financially, which could adversely affect our ability to adjust our business to
respond to competitive pressures and to obtain sufficient funds to satisfy our future research and
development needs, to protect and enforce our intellectual property and other needs.
We
have indebtedness. In 2009, we issued $172.5 million aggregate
principal amount of our 2014 Notes.
The degree to which we are leveraged could have important consequences, including, but not limited to, the following:
|
|
|
our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, capital
expenditures, acquisitions, litigation, general corporate or other purposes may be limited; |
|
|
|
|
a substantial portion of our cash flows from operations in the future will be dedicated
to the payment of the principal of our indebtedness as we are required to pay the principal
amount of our 2014 Notes in cash upon conversion if specified conditions are met or when
due; |
|
|
|
|
if upon any conversion of our 2014 Notes we are required to satisfy our conversion
obligation with shares of our common stock or we are required to pay a make-whole premium
with shares of our common stock, our existing stockholders interest in us would be diluted;
and |
|
|
|
|
we may be more vulnerable to economic downturns, less able to withstand competitive
pressures and less flexible in responding to changing business and economic conditions. |
A failure to comply with the covenants and other provisions of our debt instruments could
result in events of default under such instruments, which could permit acceleration of all of our
notes. Any required repayment of our notes as a result of a fundamental change or other
acceleration would lower our current cash on hand such that we would not have those funds available
for use in our business.
If we are at any time unable to generate sufficient cash flows from operations to service our
indebtedness when payment is due, we may be required to attempt to renegotiate the terms of the
instruments relating to the indebtedness, seek to refinance all or a portion of the indebtedness or
obtain additional financing. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully
renegotiate such terms, that any such refinancing would be possible or that any additional
financing could be obtained on terms that are favorable or acceptable to us.
In addition, we may be required to purchase the shares of contingently redeemable common stock
for an aggregate purchase price of up to $100.0 million that may be put back to us by Samsung in
July or August 2011, which would reduce our cash resources.
If securities or industry analysts change their recommendations regarding our stock adversely, our
stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that
industry or securities analysts publish about us, our business or our market. If one or more of the
analysts who cover us change their recommendation regarding our stock adversely, our stock price
would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to
regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn
could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
Compliance with changing regulation of corporate governance and public disclosure may result in
additional expenses.
Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public
disclosure, including new Securities and Exchange Commission, regulations and NASDAQ rules, have
historically created uncertainty for companies such as ours. Any new or changed laws, regulations
and standards are subject to varying interpretations in many cases due to their lack of
specificity, and as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is
provided by regulatory and governing bodies, which could result in continuing uncertainty regarding
compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance
practices. Any new investment of resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards,
may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and
attention from revenue generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply
with new or changed laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended
55
by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, our reputation may
be harmed and our business and operations would suffer.
Our restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws, Delaware law and our outstanding convertible
notes contain provisions that could discourage transactions resulting in a change in control, which
may negatively affect the market price of our common stock.
Our restated certificate of incorporation, our bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that
might enable our management to discourage, delay or prevent a change in control. In addition, these
provisions could limit the price that investors would be willing to pay in the future for shares of
our common stock. Pursuant to such provisions:
|
|
|
our board of directors is authorized, without prior stockholder approval, to create and
issue preferred stock, commonly referred to as blank check preferred stock, with rights
senior to those of common stock, which means that a new stockholder rights plan could be
implemented by our board to replace our old plan that has now expired; |
|
|
|
|
our board of directors is staggered into two classes, only one of which is elected at
each annual meeting; |
|
|
|
|
stockholder action by written consent is prohibited; |
|
|
|
|
nominations for election to our board of directors and the submission of matters to be
acted upon by stockholders at a meeting are subject to advance notice requirements; |
|
|
|
|
certain provisions in our bylaws and certificate of incorporation such as notice to
stockholders, the ability to call a stockholder meeting, advance notice requirements and
action of stockholders by written consent may only be amended with the approval of
stockholders holding 66 2/3% of our outstanding voting stock; |
|
|
|
|
our stockholders have no authority to call special meetings of stockholders; and |
|
|
|
|
our board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter or repeal our bylaws. |
We are also subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which provides,
subject to enumerated exceptions, that if a person acquires 15% or more of our outstanding voting
stock, the person is an interested stockholder and may not engage in any business combination
with us for a period of three years from the time the person acquired 15% or more of our
outstanding voting stock.
Certain provisions of our outstanding convertible notes could make it more difficult or more
expensive for a third party to acquire us. Upon the occurrence of certain transactions constituting
a fundamental change, holders of the notes will have the right, at their option, to require us to
repurchase, at a cash repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount plus accrued and
unpaid interest on the notes, all or a portion of their notes. We may also be required to issue
additional shares of our common stock upon conversion of such notes in the event of certain
fundamental changes.
Litigation, Regulation and Business Risks Related to our Intellectual Property
We face current and potential adverse determinations in litigation stemming from our efforts to
protect and enforce our patents and intellectual property, which could broadly impact our
intellectual property rights, distract our management and cause a substantial decline in our
revenue and stock price.
We seek to diligently protect our intellectual property rights. In connection with the
extension of our licensing program to SDR SDRAM-compatible and DDR SDRAM-compatible products, we
became involved in litigation related to such efforts against different parties in multiple
jurisdictions. In each of these cases, we have claimed infringement of certain of our patents,
while the manufacturers of such products have generally sought damages and a determination that the
patents in suit are invalid, unenforceable, and not infringed. Among other things, the opposing
parties have alleged that certain of our patents are unenforceable because we engaged in document
spoliation, litigation misconduct and/or acted improperly during our 1991 to 1995 participation in
the JEDEC standard setting organization (including allegations of antitrust violations and unfair
competition). We have also become involved in litigation related to infringement of our patents
related to products having certain peripheral interfaces. See Note 13, Litigation and Asserted
Claims, of Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-Q.
56
There can be no assurance that any or all of the opposing parties will not succeed, either at
the trial or appellate level, with such claims or counterclaims against us or that they will not in
some other way establish broad defenses against our patents, achieve conflicting results, or
otherwise avoid or delay paying royalties for the use of our patented technology. Moreover, there
is a risk that if one party prevails against us, other parties could use the adverse result to
defeat or limit our claims against them; conversely, there can be no assurance that if we prevail
against one party, we will succeed against other parties on similar claims, defenses, or
counterclaims. In addition, there is the risk that the pending litigations and other circumstances
may cause us to accept less than what we now believe to be fair consideration in settlement.
Any of these matters or any future intellectual property litigation, whether or not determined
in our favor or settled by us, is costly, may cause delays (including delays in negotiating
licenses with other actual or potential licensees), will tend to discourage future design partners,
will tend to impair adoption of our existing technologies and divert the efforts and attention of
our management and technical personnel from other business operations. In addition, we may be
unsuccessful in our litigation if we have difficulty obtaining the cooperation of former employees
and agents who were involved in our business during the relevant periods related to our litigation
and are now needed to assist in cases or testify on our behalf. Furthermore, any adverse
determination or other resolution in litigation could result in our losing certain rights beyond
the rights at issue in a particular case, including, among other things: our being effectively
barred from suing others for violating certain or all of our intellectual property rights; our
patents being held invalid or unenforceable or not infringed; our being subjected to significant
liabilities; our being required to seek licenses from third parties; our being prevented from
licensing our patented technology; or our being required to renegotiate with current licensees on a
temporary or permanent basis. Even if we are successful in our litigation, or any settlement of
such litigation, there is no guarantee that the applicable opposing parties will be able to pay any
damages awards timely or at all as a result of financial difficulties or otherwise. Delay or any or
all of these adverse results could cause a substantial decline in our revenue and stock price.
An adverse resolution by or with a governmental agency could result in severe limitations on our
ability to protect and license our intellectual property, and would cause our revenue to decline
substantially.
From time to time, we are subject to proceedings by government agencies, such as our Federal
Trade Commission and European Commission proceedings over the past several years. These proceedings
may result in adverse determinations against us or in other outcomes that could limit our ability
to enforce or license our intellectual property, and could cause our revenue to decline
substantially.
In addition, third parties have and may attempt to use adverse findings by a government agency
to limit our ability to enforce or license our patents in private litigations, to challenge or
otherwise act against us with respect to such government agency proceedings, such as the attempts
by Hynix to appeal our settlement with the European Commission, and to assert claims for monetary
damages against us. Although we have successfully defeated certain attempts to do so, there can be
no assurance that other third parties will not be successful in the future or that additional
claims or actions arising out of adverse findings by a government agency will not be asserted
against us.
Further, third parties have sought and may seek review and reconsideration of the
patentability of inventions claimed in certain of our patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office (PTO) and/or the European Patent Office (the EPO). Currently, we are subject to several
re-examination proceedings, including proceedings initiated by Hynix, Micron and NVIDIA as a
defensive action in connection with our litigation against those companies. An adverse decision by
the PTO or EPO could invalidate some or all of these patent claims and could also result in
additional adverse consequences affecting other related U.S. or European patents, including in our
intellectual property litigation. If a sufficient number of such patents are impaired, our ability
to enforce or license our intellectual property would be significantly weakened and this could
cause our revenue to decline substantially.
The pendency of any governmental agency acting as described above may impair our ability to
enforce or license our patents or collect royalties from existing or potential licensees, as our
litigation opponents may attempt to use such proceedings to delay or otherwise impair any pending
cases and our existing or potential licensees may await the final outcome of any proceedings before
agreeing to new licenses or pay royalties.
Litigation or other third-party claims of intellectual property infringement could require us to
expend substantial resources and could prevent us from developing or licensing our technology on a
cost-effective basis.
Our research and development programs are in highly competitive fields in which numerous third
parties have issued patents and patent applications with claims closely related to the subject
matter of our programs. We have also been named in the past, and may in the future be named, as a
defendant in lawsuits claiming that our technology infringes upon the intellectual property rights
of third
57
parties. In the event of a third-party claim or a successful infringement action against us,
we may be required to pay substantial damages, to stop developing and licensing our infringing
technology, to develop non-infringing technology, and to obtain licenses, which could result in our
paying substantial royalties or our granting of cross licenses to our technologies. Threatened or
ongoing third-party claims or infringement actions may prevent us from pursuing additional
development and licensing arrangements for some period. For example, we may discontinue
negotiations with certain customers for additional licensing of our patents due to the uncertainty
caused by our ongoing litigation on the terms of such licenses or of the terms of such licenses on
our litigation. We may not be able to obtain licenses from other parties at a reasonable cost, or
at all, which could cause us to expend substantial resources, or result in delays in, or the
cancellation of, new product.
If we are unable to successfully protect our inventions through the issuance and enforcement of
patents, our operating results could be adversely affected.
We have an active program to protect our proprietary inventions through the filing of patents.
There can be no assurance, however, that:
|
|
|
any current or future U.S. or foreign patent applications will be approved and not be
challenged by third parties; |
|
|
|
|
our issued patents will protect our intellectual property and not be challenged by third
parties; |
|
|
|
|
the validity of our patents will be upheld; |
|
|
|
|
our patents will not be declared unenforceable; |
|
|
|
|
the patents of others will not have an adverse effect on our ability to do business; |
|
|
|
|
Congress or the U.S. courts or foreign countries will not change the nature or scope of
rights afforded patents or patent owners or alter in an adverse way the process for seeking
patents; |
|
|
|
|
changes in law will not be implemented that will affect our ability to protect and
enforce our patents and other intellectual property; |
|
|
|
|
new legal theories and strategies utilized by our competitors will not be successful; |
|
|
|
|
others will not independently develop similar or competing chip interfaces or design
around any patents that may be issued to us; or |
|
|
|
|
factors such as difficulty in obtaining cooperation from inventors, pre-existing
challenges or litigation, or license or other contract issues will not present additional
challenges in securing protection with respect to patents and other intellectual property
that we acquire. |
If any of the above were to occur, our operating results could be adversely affected.
Our inability to protect and own the intellectual property we create would cause our business to
suffer.
We rely primarily on a combination of license, development and nondisclosure agreements,
trademark, trade secret and copyright law, and contractual provisions to protect our non-patentable
intellectual property rights. If we fail to protect these intellectual property rights, our
licensees and others may seek to use our technology without the payment of license fees and
royalties, which could weaken our competitive position, reduce our operating results and increase
the likelihood of costly litigation. The growth of our business depends in large part on the use of
our intellectual property in the products of third party manufacturers, and our ability to enforce
intellectual property rights against them to obtain appropriate compensation. In addition,
effective trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in certain foreign countries.
Although we intend to protect our rights vigorously, if we fail to do so, our business will suffer.
We rely upon the accuracy of our licensees recordkeeping, and any inaccuracies or payment disputes
for amounts owed to us under our licensing agreements may harm our results of operations.
Many of our license agreements require our licensees to document the manufacture and sale of
products that incorporate our technology and report this data to us on a quarterly basis. While
licenses with such terms give us the right to audit books and records of our licensees to verify
this information, audits rarely are undertaken because they can be expensive, time consuming, and
58
potentially detrimental to our ongoing business relationship with our licensees. Therefore, we
typically rely on the accuracy of the reports from licensees without independently verifying the
information in them. Our failure to audit our licensees books and records may result in our
receiving more or less royalty revenue than we are entitled to under the terms of our license
agreements. If we conduct royalty audits in the future, such audits may trigger disagreements over
contract terms with our licensees and such disagreements could hamper customer relations, divert
the efforts and attention of our management from normal operations and impact our business
operations and financial condition.
Any dispute regarding our intellectual property may require us to indemnify certain licensees, the
cost of which could severely hamper our business operations and financial condition.
In any potential dispute involving our patents or other intellectual property, our licensees
could also become the target of litigation. While we generally do not indemnify our licensees, some
of our license agreements provide limited indemnities, and some require us to provide technical
support and information to a licensee that is involved in litigation involving use of our
technology. In addition, we may agree to indemnify others in the future. Any of these
indemnification and support obligations could result in substantial expenses. In addition to the
time and expense required for us to indemnify or supply such support to our licensees, a licensees
development, marketing and sales of licensed semiconductors could be severely disrupted or shut
down as a result of litigation, which in turn could severely hamper our business operations and
financial condition as a result of lower or no royalty payments.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
Not Applicable
Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities
Not Applicable
Item 4. Reserved
Item 5. Other Information
Not Applicable
Item 6. Exhibits
Refer to the Exhibit Index of this quarterly report on Form 10-Q.
59
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly
caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
|
|
|
|
|
|
RAMBUS INC.
|
|
Date: April 29, 2011 |
By: |
/s/ Satish Rishi
|
|
|
|
Satish Rishi |
|
|
|
Senior Vice President, Finance and
Chief Financial Officer |
|
|
60
INDEX TO EXHIBITS
|
|
|
Exhibit |
|
|
Number |
|
Description of Document |
|
|
|
3.1 (1)
|
|
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Registrant filed May 29, 1997. |
|
|
|
3.2 (2)
|
|
Certificate of Amendment of Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Registrant filed June 14, 2000. |
|
|
|
3.3 (3)
|
|
Amended and Restated Bylaws of Registrant dated November 13, 2007. |
|
|
|
31.1
|
|
Certification of Principal Executive Officer, pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
|
|
|
31.2
|
|
Certification of Principal Financial Officer, pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
|
|
|
32.1
|
|
Certification of Principal Executive Officer, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
|
|
|
32.2
|
|
Certification of Principal Financial Officer, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to
Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
|
|
|
101.INS ±
|
|
XBRL Instance Document |
|
|
|
101.SCH ±
|
|
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document |
|
|
|
101.CAL ±
|
|
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document |
|
|
|
101.LAB ±
|
|
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document |
|
|
|
101.PRE ±
|
|
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document |
|
|
|
101.DEF ±
|
|
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document |
|
|
|
|
|
Confidential treatment has been requested with respect to certain portions of this exhibit.
Omitted portions have been filed separately with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
|
± |
|
XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) information is furnished and not filed or a
part of a registration statement or prospectus for purposes of Sections 11 or 12 of the
Securities Act of 1933, is deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, and otherwise is not subject to liability under these sections. |
|
(1) |
|
Incorporated by reference to the Form 10-K filed on December 15, 1997. |
|
(2) |
|
Incorporated by reference to the Form 10-Q filed on May 4, 2001. |
|
(3) |
|
Incorporated by reference to the Form 10-Q filed on August 4, 2008. |
61