Many people will be familiar with Sony’s Cell Broadband Engine, the processor which powers the company’s famous PS3 games console. However, a 15-year-old patent for "synchronized parallel processing with shared memory" could spell trouble for the firm if the Parallel Processing Corporation is victorious in a recent lawsuit against Sony. The Parallel Processing Corporation claims that Sony’s Cell processor infringes the patent and has caused “irreparable harm and monetary damage" – the patent was originally granted to a company called International Parallel Machines on 8th October 1991, but the Parallel Processing Corporation now claims to be the “exclusive licensee” for it. If successful, this has the potential to be much more serious than the well known rumble lawsuit, considering that the Cell processor isn’t something that can be easily changed for the PS3. Sony is yet to give a statement about this issue, instead saying doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Source: Reg Hardware