Jerry Falk admits he doesn't know much about the music of Marshall Mathers III, aka the rap musician Eminem. "I understand he is a genius and a great artist, but it's not my kind of music. I listen to Stravinsky or Stephen Sondheim." But thanks to Falk, Eminem--and possibly many other musicians--may get much bigger royalties for their downloaded music.

Rambus's hope that the impact from Judge Sue Robinson's devastating ruling would be limited has been dashed: A federal judge who previously found the company could enforce its patents despite its aggressive document destruction policies now says the Federal Circuit will have to decide the issue.

The structure of Samsung's deal with Rambus suggests that it's betting Micron and Hynix will follow its lead.

The cert grant comes less than a month after the U.S. asked the high court to resolve the parameters of the Bayh-Dole Act, which governs ownership of research backed by federal funds. Roche, which has twice defeated Stanford's claims in lower courts, says the patent at issue wasn't developed with government money.

This billion-dollar recovery for indirect purchasers of LCD panels, if approved by San Francisco U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, will likely lead to some big fees for the plaintiffs lawyers. In a separate case brought by different counsel on behalf of direct purchasers, Illston approved a 30 percent fee, for a total of $121 million.

The heirs of author J.R.R. Tolkien and HarperCollins Publishers announced Tuesday that they have resolved their dispute with New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers over their share of royalties from the Lord of the Rings movies.