Patent lawsuits can last for a number of years, as patent lawyers battle it out with courtroom suits, countersuits, and settlements behind closed doors. Seeming like a war of attrition, the ongoing patent conflict between Rambus and NVIDIA has at least been resolved, even if only partially.
Rambus filed suit against NVIDIA in July of 2008, accusing the company of patent infringement on 17 Rambus-held patents on memory controllers. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Rambus claimed that chipsets, graphics processors, and media communication processors across six different NVIDIA product lines are legally infringing. The patents concern memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, and GDDR3 SDRAM.
Rambus sought a court injunction to force NVIDIA to stop selling the products at issue, as well as monetary damages. Rambus said that they had been trying to convince NVIDIA to purchase a license for the patents, and since they refused the suit was the last resort. However, Rambus’ head legal counsel said that the company hoped to settle the issue out of court.
It took several years, but NVIDIA and Rambus have at least partially solved the patent lawsuit between them by signing a patent license agreement in August 2010. Under the agreement, NVIDIA will gain license for certain memory controllers for one percent royalty and a two percent royalty per unit on other memory controllers. However, this agreement does not totally resolve the pending patent case under which Rambus sued NVIDIA in 2008.
Further, in November 2010 Rambus filed a separate complaint against NVIDIA and 5 other companies with the International Trade Commission (ITC) requesting an investigation and exclusion order barring importation of products that Rambus alleges violate its patents from the Dally1 and Barth family of patents. In an earlier investigation the ITC found the Barth patents valid and infringed by NVIDIA products, and they issued an exclusion order in July 2010.
PlayStation 3 shipments were seized by European customs officers when Sony lost to LG in a preliminary injunction patent battle. The injunction was filed on March 1 and lasted 10 days, stating that all PS3s are to be confiscated when imported anywhere into Europe. The patent dispute is based on Sony’s infringing use of Blu-Ray technology, which is owned by LG. So far many thousands of units have been seized. Sony quickly sought to have the ban lifted in an appeal to the European patents office, while LG likewise sought to have the 10-day ban extended.
LG stated that the PlayStation infringes on many patents for playing Blu-Ray discs. LG also attempted to have the units banned for sale in the United States. If Sony is found guilty of patent infringement, they may be forced to compensate LG for every unit sold anywhere in the world, which would amount to millions and millions of dollars. In a countersuit, Sony is attempting to block LG shipments of Smartphones into the US, claiming another patent infringement.
Apple division Cupertino has applied for a patent for a new dynamic ring tone that can create music videos when your friends call. It basically compiles video and audio clips of the caller, and incorporates them into a short video that plays when they call you. The clips are pulled either from the internet, or from files stored on the callers phone. It is all automated, so you never know what is going to show up, which keeps it surprising and fun. It may be a good idea to keep tabs on what you store on your phone, just in case.
Last month Clearwire was sued by Sony Ericsson, who claimed that their logo was a trademark infringement for being too similar. Although they are both vaguely alike, the preliminary federal court statement found that there is “insufficient evidence of likelihood of confusion and no irreparable harm.” They also denied Sony a preliminary injunction. The case is not over yet, but so far it looks good for Clearwire.
HTC, a Taiwan based company, is being sued by ChaCha for using their namesake for the new phone with a dedicated Facebook button. HTC created a handset which they named the ChaCha, unaware that ChaCha Inc. has a trademark on the name and logo which they use for their text and voice internet search engine. ChaCha doesn’t want consumers to infer that they endorse the HTC phone, and are therefor asking for compensation for damages, and are seeking a permanent injunction to keep the phone from going to market using the name.
A recent court case in the Federal District Court in Texas had a jury rule that Johnson & Johnson Cordis Unit must pay out $482 million for patent infringement. The case was brought on in 2003 by Dr. Bruce Saffran, a Princeton, New Jersey radiologist who claims that they infringed on his patent for devices used to treat damaged heart tissue. The verdict came in, but the lawyer for the Cordis Unit says that they will challenge. This is not the first time that Dr. Saffran’s patent has been infringed upon. In 2008, he also won a case against the Boston Scientific Corporation, and was awarded $501 million. He also has a third case pending against Abbott Laboratories, scheduled for trial in 2012.
Score one point for the little guys. Wi-Lan has finally reached a settlement with Intel over patent infringements. Reports state that a significant settlement was received from Intel over a dispute about the various wireless-related patents held by Wi-Lan. Now on to the next fight, as Wi-Lan has 16 other cases pending. But beating a technology giant like Intel may be a good sign of things to come for them.
Microsoft filed a claim that Apple’s use of the term “App Store” cannot be a trademarked name. Microsoft claims that the name is too generic, and is merely a descriptive term for the apps that they sell. They filed the claim with the US Patent and Trademark Office, asking to dismiss the Apple trademark claim to use the term for all their computer software. This marks just the latest battle between the 2 largest software behemoths. It’s anybody’s guess who will come out on top in this one.
Now that the old telecom mammoth Nortel is bankrupt, it is auctioning off all its patents to the highest bidder. Google and Apple are fighting over what is left from the giant Canadian company that once employed over 90,000 workers. Nortel had over 4,000 patents worth an estimated $1 billion, and much of it is usefull in the wireless industry. Among both Google and Apple, also interested in bidding on assets are RIM and Motorola. Sources say that all the Nortel patents will be placed into 6 groups of related technology. The bidding should begin shortly and we will see who emerges victorious.
We wrote about a month ago about Motorola suing Apple for 18 alleged patent violations. Well things are more interesting now, as Apple has sued Motorola for 24 patent violations. It basically boils down to iPhones vs. Android smartphones, and how similar they are, and who had what first. Both sides claim that patents were stolen and used in the others products. Apple has requested that Motorola’s declaratory judgement case that was filed in Delaware be moved to Wisconsin where Apple’s suit against Motorola was filed. They argue that because Motorola is already in a lawsuit against Microsoft, moving the case there shouldn’t be an issue. Apple is the tech-world’s most sue happy company, so don’t expect this battle to stop anytime soon.