ATMLU036/2EB 1 is a 24HC256 clone?

[0xdeadbeef]

I bought two 24hc256 DIP8s recently on eBay and expected them to be from ST or Atmel with some marking resembling 24HC256, but what I got is two DIP8s marked as "ATMLU036 / 2eb 1 / 0F6971". Anything known about these? Cheap clones or reliable 3rd source?

[vivaT]

I had the same question for some 24C02B chips off an logic analyzer, only at the start i didn't know what they were. The markings for those chips was: ATMLH928 02B 1

Another post suggested these were as below, but its a bit inconsistent labeled so take with pinch of salt:
ATMLH[3 digit datecode]
2[some letters]

They seam to be common on branded consumer gear like samsung tvs. cheap.

[0xdeadbeef]

Ok, dumb me. This is an original Atmel part and marked as described in the marking scheme inside the data sheet. I had a look in the user manual before, but there was no description of the marking.
So this is indeed an AT24C256B produced in week 36 of 2010 and 0F6971 is the lot number.