The U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating the DRAM vendors on charges of antitrust violations. The e-mail messages stem from a separate FTC case charging Rambus with unfair competition that was dismissed this week. The DRAM vendors have been involved in litigation for years over charges that Rambus improperly influenced a memory standards-setting body into adopting patented Rambus technology into the synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) and double data rate (DDR) SDRAM standards. But several recent court rulings have upheld Rambus' claims that the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council's (JEDEC's) policies did not specify the method in which Rambus was required to disclose its patents. Those decisions clear the way for patent infringement lawsuits on behalf of Rambus against the DRAM vendors.