A U.S. district court Tuesday rejected claims by Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE) that it was entitled to lower royalty payments on certain licenses with chip-design firm Rambus Inc. (RMBS).

The court ruled that Samsung's "most-favored licensee" status couldn't be extended to licenses later than June 30, 2005, the date an earlier license was set to expire. Additionally, the court said Rambus was not capped in the patent damages it could seek for infringement after this date based on royalty payments made by Infineon Technologies AG. (IFNNY)

Samsung, which licenses some elements of chip design from Los Altos, Calif.-based Rambus, had argued that the favored status should be extended, and also covered next-generation products.

However, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied these claims and also ruled that Rambus did not fail to negotiate in good faith an extension or renewal license despite Rambus' failure to prove Samsung had breached audit provisions for the license.

Rambus shares were recently down 3.4% to $11.40. The stock jumped more than 18% Monday after another California judge ruled that Rambus can pursue its antitrust claims against other memory chip makers, including Samsung, Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (000660.SE) and Micron Technology Inc. (MU), Bloomberg reported.

Rambus is involved in a legal battle with chip makers to enforce its patents related to memory chip technology, with developments in the cases often leading to sizable swings in Rambus's share price.

Neither Rambus nor Samsung were immediately available for comment.

-By Jerry A. DiColo; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5670; jerry.dicolo@dowjones.com