Nvidia Found Guilty of Infringing Rambus Patents

[CChick]

We have too many fags like Rambus ... that prevents people from having open standard ...

 

[eyemaster]

What's wrong with these judges? If a company sues dozens and dozens of companies for infringing on an openly developed standard because they planted information in the first place for this to happen... why are they rewarded for it? Rambus should be stripped of their pattents that have anything to do with DDR memory.

Where's the logic?

 

[jjpmann]

[citation][nom]cliffro[/nom][citation]In summer 2008, Rambus claimed that "a number of Nvidia products" with memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, and GDDR3 SDRAM infringe upon 17 Rambus patents, leading to the expected lawsuit.[/citation]Fermi uses GDDR5. This should not affect it. The lower end stuff that they keep rebranding that uses GDDR3 would be though.[/citation]

Well since GDDR5 wasn't used back in 2008, who's to say Rambus wont open a new suit for these new cards down the road.

 

[mhughes81]

The whole thing sucks. Don't know if this will cause Nvidia to go under, but I hope not. ATI drivers suck in general while Nvidia releases decent drivers half the time. If we were all forced to buy ATI cards as upgrades in the future, most of us won't be able to play MMOs anymore. Aoin, WoW and a lot of other popular MMOs don't run good on ATI cards for a lot of people. (http://forums.amd.com/game/categories.cfm?catid=229&forumid=11)

I fought with this problem last year when I upgraded to an ATI card and got the shaft with the driver issues. I had to end up buying another Nvidia card just to be able to play certain games.

 

[matt_b]

I don't care if Nvidia is guilty of this or not, screw Rambus. Someone needs to buy these guys out just to shut them down. They are nothing more than a parasite on the hardware and technology sector.

List of things I want to see most happen in computers for 2010:
1) Rambus disappears from existence.
2) Technology progresses at a faster pace due to number one above.

 

[master9716]

These Rambus Scrubs keep sue'ing people year after year. I think its enough and Nvidia or Intel should put a hit on the Rambus ppl that keep trying to sue for their dead technology.

 

[omnimodis78]

[citation][nom]MAYNARDMAN10[/nom]Nvidia needs to call it a day. Their business practicing are finally catching up with them.[/citation]
So I take it that you would be totally OK with paying $300+ for entry level video cards? Yeah, not having a competitor usually results in a monopoly which automatically jacks the prices up. AMD/ATI are not charities, they're for-profit companies who would take advantage of the market dominance in a heartbeat. So, it's in your interest that nvidia will not call it the day.

 

[monger]

I have owned both Nvidia and ATI graphics cards. At this point in time, if I were to buy a new video card, it would be an ATI. That does not mean I want Nvidia to go out of business. I fear if Nvidia bit the bullet, Ati would slow thier tech, and raise their prices. Competition is a must if you want to keep technology moving at a quick rate. If Nvidia's new cards offer a better bang for the buck vs ATI, I would buy one them if I needed a new graphics card at the time. Hard to say at this point though. I have always bought PC parts based on who has the better stuff for the better price at the time.

 

[Nexus52085]

[citation][nom]kartu[/nom]Oh, is it? Are you prophesying or have you seen real benchmarks?[/citation]
There have been previews for fermi, yes, and from what it showed, fermi definitely outperforms the 5870's.

 

[geoffs]

RAMBUS' DDR patents should be deemed unenforceable because they submitted them to an open standards development organization for inclusion in the standard without disclosing that they were encumbered by patents, then retroactively demanded royalties after the standard was established and the products were in widespread usage.

 

[bfstev]

this all makes nvidia look more and more tempting for a buy out by a seperate company. Intel would love them but might run into monopoly concerns. Same for ati/amd. but a different third party like samsung or something might not run into as much trouble. Though they have been getting pretty chummy with apple lately.....

 

[nottheking]

I was seriously hoping a while back, WAYYYY back when I first heard word that Rambus was going to sue everyone, before it made news, (back in like 2003) that the courts would laugh at them, and tell them that they really COULDN'T literally "own everything" when it came to what we know of as RAM today.

Apparently, I overestimated the intelligence of judges. After all, they somehow allow ridiculous patents like those on HUMAN GENES to stand, so it's only natural that they'd consider patents on, say, double-pumping memory signals to be fully enforceable. Never mind that it wasn't Rambus' invention; I know that Intel had introduced the double-pumped (later quad- and octo-) AGP port in 1997, three years before DDR-SDRAM showed up.

So this is very troubling news for the ENTIRE computing industry. This won't be just memory makers, nVidia, and ATi. If this keeps up, we'll see AMD's processor section, as well as Intel, be targetted.

 

[matt_b]

[citation][nom]__-_-_-__[/nom]in civilized countries, like those in Europe, patents are limited in time.[/citation]

Current European Patent Office laws are about the same as the US. Both are limited, and both last for 20 years for a majority of patents issued. Certain products/services/ideas may have different term lengths starting from the date filed depending on how the patent commissions rule. Most patents are also renewable through "maintenance" fees, but again, with regards to what it is that is up for renewal.

I see what you are saying about term lengths, but at the same time I disagree. If something is patented and the idea is known to be locked up for a long term, then a company will be more willing to invest in newer technologies that do not fall under a current patent. On one hand the company that developed or has the patent, will likely kick back and enjoy their royalties, but the competition will be hard at work to lock up their own patents and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor and no longer have to owe royalties for that older patent they were using. If the patent-holding company sits on their ass for too long, then capitalism will take its toll and they will be behind in their field in due time. The idea is the same either way, to have the upper-hand in your particular market no matter what patent another company may be holding.

In the case of DDR RAM, it's a standard and that's what computers use. It is as ridiculous as if someone tried to patent the idea of the BIOS or as simple as the power button. There really isn't much alternative here and the idea of data traveling both directions at once (DDR) will not go away, it can't. It's a catch 22 patent that should have never been, at least not for the length it currently is.

 

[matt_b]

Then enlighten me and send me in the same direction you came from. Where is it stated 3 years for electronic/computer technology?

 

[redraider89]

[citation][nom]__-_-_-__[/nom]in civilized countries, like those in Europe, patents are limited in time./citation]

I guess the word "civilized" means "arrogant idiot" in European countries because it's idiotic to think that U.S. patents don't have a time limit. But I wouldn't be too smug, the way the EU and the Euro is crumbling due to governmental fiscal mismanagement. Oh, those Europeans are so much smarter...you just keep thinking that and someday reality will hit you.

 

[redraider89]

[citation][nom]__-_-_-__[/nom][/citation]

And what is the most ludicrous about your attitude is that you wouldn't have a PC to post your ridiculousness if it wasn't for the "stupid" Americans. Oh! I bet your are using a PC running one of those EU designed processors and GPUs, right...? You have to be because Americans are too stupid to make something you would use.

 

[kingofsales]

ohhh Nvidia