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Rambus asks ITC to bar US Nvidia imports

Lawsuit chaser

IP-lawsuit-happy Rambus is asking the US International Trade Commission to ban imports of Nvidia products it claims infringe on nine of its patents.

The company filed a formal complaint with the ITC requesting an investigation that it hopes will lead to the barring of certain Nvidia kit.

It's complaint follows a lawsuit filed in July against Nvidia claiming the company's DDR (double data rate) memory controllers infringe on various Rambus patents. The memory controllers are found in both Nvidia's chipset and graphics chips and include GDDR3 memory used in its latest line of GPUs.

The complaint names Nvidia along with a laundry list of OEMs and graphics card firms like Asus, BFG Technologies, Biostar Microtech, EVGA, GBT, Hewlett-Packard, MSI, Micro-Star, Palit Microsystems, Pine Technology Holdings, and Sparkle Computer.

"We believe this action is necessary given Nvida's continued willful infringement of our patents," said Tom Lavelle, senior veep and general council at Rambus. "Rambus engineers and scientists have made tremendous contributions to the industry, and we need to protect our patent inventions on behalf of our shareholders and in fairness to our paying licensees."

The company claims it's tried over the past six years to sell the GPU maker a license for the patents, but Nvidia wasn't buying. Rambus also hadn't sued anyone for several moments and needed the legal workout.

Rambus said to expect the ITC to decide whether it will start an investigation based on its complaint within 30 days. ®

Latest Comments
Anonymous Coward

Hmmm...

If I were the ITSC, I'd tell Rambus that they've already made their allegations in court, and until the court case is decided the issue is up in the air, so the should bloody well bugger off before I filed charges against them for filing frivolous allegations.

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@Svein Skogen

Why wait for the lawyers to try and flee the country?

Now they'll be after me for saying that.

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If there was a god

If there was a god, there would be no Rambus.

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Anonymous Coward

Re: Lose?

When nVidia believes their controllers do not infringe patents, why on earth would they want to buy a license from a known IP troll like Rambus?

I'd also tell them to take a bloody hike and see them in court

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re: Lose?

Maybe because rambus' patents are overbroad, littered with prior art, fail to be novel to someone experenced in the art, or just plain don't apply. If nVidia beleaves just ONE of these, then they should refuse to pay. The dirty bit about US law, is that nVidia can't bring a suit over the matter though, they lack what in US law is called "standing." They have to refuse to pay it and wait for Rambus to sue them.

It's just like if MS sent me a letter telling me I needed to pay them for licensing, I would do EXACTLY what nVidia did... giggle a bit while i drop it in the waste-basket. I'm not useing their product, so bugger off.

Mine's the one with the square made of the letter 's' on it...

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