Rambus has been notoriously aggressive defending its intellectual property. But it suffered a major setback last year in its court case with Infineon in which it was found to have fraudulently obtained patents extending over DDR-DRAM. This means quiescence on the litigation front, and a side effect of making the company - strictly in the short term only - more profitable. Less litigation means smaller legal bills - down to $4.5 million in the December quarter, from $6.8m in Q2. ®