• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Rambus Files Patent Infringement Suit Against NVIDIA

malware

New Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2004
Messages
5,422 (0.77/day)
Location
Bulgaria
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 VID: 1.2125
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P rev.2.0
Cooling Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme + Noctua NF-S12 Fan
Memory 4x1 GB PQI DDR2 PC2-6400
Video Card(s) Colorful iGame Radeon HD 4890 1 GB GDDR5
Storage 2x 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 32 MB RAID0
Display(s) BenQ G2400W 24-inch WideScreen LCD
Case Cooler Master COSMOS RC-1000 (sold), Cooler Master HAF-932 (delivered)
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic + Logitech Z-5500 Digital THX
Power Supply Chieftec CFT-1000G-DF 1kW
Software Laptop: Lenovo 3000 N200 C2DT2310/3GB/120GB/GF7300/15.4"/Razer
Rambus Inc., one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing in high-speed memory architectures, today announced it has filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against NVIDIA Corporation for patent infringement.


The lawsuit alleges that a number of NVIDIA products with memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, and GDDR3 SDRAM infringe 17 Rambus patents. The accused products in the complaint include chipsets, graphics processors, media communication processors, multimedia applications processors and other products from at least six NVIDIA product lines. Rambus is seeking injunctive relief barring the infringement, contributory infringement, and inducement to infringe the Rambus patents, as well as monetary damages.

"For more than six years, we have diligently attempted to negotiate a licensing agreement with NVIDIA, but our good faith efforts have been to no avail," said Tom Lavelle, senior vice president and general counsel at Rambus. "Graphics and multimedia products require leading-edge memory performance, and as NVIDIA advances its product portfolio, it infringes more and more of our patents. We are left with no other recourse than litigation to protect and seek fair compensation for the use of our patented inventions. Nevertheless, we hope to continue discussions with NVIDIA to reach a negotiated settlement."

Further information will be made available at http://investor.rambus.com in the Litigation Update section.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 

alexp999

Staff
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
8,012 (1.32/day)
Location
Dorset, UK
System Name Gaming Rig | Uni Laptop
Processor Intel Q6600 G0 (2007) @ 3.6Ghz @ 1.45625v (LLC) / 4 GHz Bench @ 1.63v | AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 2 GHz
Motherboard ASUS P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45) | HP 6715b
Cooling Xigmatek Dark Knight w/AC MX2 ~ Case Fans: 2 x 180mm + 1 x 120mm Silverstone Fans
Memory 4GB OCZ Platinum PC2-8000 @ 1000Mhz 5-5-5-15 2.1v | 2 x 1GB DDR2 667 MHz
Video Card(s) XFX GTX 285 1GB, Modded FTW BIOS @ 725/1512/1350 w/Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 + Scythe sinks| ATI X1250
Storage 2x WD6400AAKS 1 TB Raid 0, 140GB Raid 1 & 80GB Maxtor Basics External HDD (storage) | 160GB 2.5"
Display(s) Samsung SyncMaster SM2433BW @ 1920 x 1200 via DVI-D | 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050 resolution)
Case Silverstone Fortress FT01B-W ~ Logitech G15 R1 / Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000
Audio Device(s) Soundmax AD2000BX Onboard Sound, via Logitech X-230 2.1 | ADI SoundMAX HD Audio
Power Supply Corsair TX650W | HP 90W
Software Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 x64 | Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 x64
Benchmark Scores 3DM06: 19519, Vantage: P16170 ~ Win7: -CPU 7.5 -MEM 7.5 -AERO 7.9 -GFX 6.0 -HDD 6.0
Rambus Inc., one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing in high-speed memory architectures, today announced it has filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against NVIDIA Corporation for patent infringement.


The lawsuit alleges that a number of NVIDIA products with memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, and GDDR3 SDRAM infringe 17 Rambus patents. The accused products in the complaint include chipsets, graphics processors, media communication processors, multimedia applications processors and other products from at least six NVIDIA product lines. Rambus is seeking injunctive relief barring the infringement, contributory infringement, and inducement to infringe the Rambus patents, as well as monetary damages.

“For more than six years, we have diligently attempted to negotiate a licensing agreement with NVIDIA, but our good faith efforts have been to no avail,” said Tom Lavelle, senior vice president and general counsel at Rambus. “Graphics and multimedia products require leading-edge memory performance, and as NVIDIA advances its product portfolio, it infringes more and more of our patents. We are left with no other recourse than litigation to protect and seek fair compensation for the use of our patented inventions. Nevertheless, we hope to continue discussions with NVIDIA to reach a negotiated settlement.”

Further information will be made available at http://investor.rambus.com in the Litigation Update section.

Source: BusinessWire

lol! life just seems to be getting better for nvidia atm. What if due to this nvidia have to pull their latest 2xx range just as the 4870X2 comes out!!! :eek:
 
Joined
Jul 26, 2007
Messages
574 (0.09/day)
Location
Melbourne, Australia
System Name beast
Processor 3930K
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3
Cooling Noctua NH-U12P SE2011
Memory 16GB Kingston Value DDR3 1333Mhz CL9
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Aorus Elite RTX3060 12GB
Storage 1x 120GB Intel 520 and some spinny bois
Display(s) 3x DELL S2721DGF
Case Antec P182
Power Supply Corsair 750w
VR HMD Oculus Quest 2
Software Windows 10
why would they only be seeking compensation from nvidia? :confused:
wouldnt all of the affiliate companies be at fault to, because afiak their selling display cards.. ect ect with the same technology, and what about other companies like motherboard manufactures and say.. amd/ati? (now dont flame me ppl, im just curious as to why)
or do all chipset manufactures aside from nvidia currently pay royalties to said rambus whenever they have a similar or existing patented technology which would fall under these 17 or moreso infringments?? :banghead: :twitch:
 

alexp999

Staff
Joined
Jul 28, 2007
Messages
8,012 (1.32/day)
Location
Dorset, UK
System Name Gaming Rig | Uni Laptop
Processor Intel Q6600 G0 (2007) @ 3.6Ghz @ 1.45625v (LLC) / 4 GHz Bench @ 1.63v | AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 2 GHz
Motherboard ASUS P5Q Deluxe (Intel P45) | HP 6715b
Cooling Xigmatek Dark Knight w/AC MX2 ~ Case Fans: 2 x 180mm + 1 x 120mm Silverstone Fans
Memory 4GB OCZ Platinum PC2-8000 @ 1000Mhz 5-5-5-15 2.1v | 2 x 1GB DDR2 667 MHz
Video Card(s) XFX GTX 285 1GB, Modded FTW BIOS @ 725/1512/1350 w/Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 + Scythe sinks| ATI X1250
Storage 2x WD6400AAKS 1 TB Raid 0, 140GB Raid 1 & 80GB Maxtor Basics External HDD (storage) | 160GB 2.5"
Display(s) Samsung SyncMaster SM2433BW @ 1920 x 1200 via DVI-D | 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050 resolution)
Case Silverstone Fortress FT01B-W ~ Logitech G15 R1 / Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000
Audio Device(s) Soundmax AD2000BX Onboard Sound, via Logitech X-230 2.1 | ADI SoundMAX HD Audio
Power Supply Corsair TX650W | HP 90W
Software Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 x64 | Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7100 x64
Benchmark Scores 3DM06: 19519, Vantage: P16170 ~ Win7: -CPU 7.5 -MEM 7.5 -AERO 7.9 -GFX 6.0 -HDD 6.0
why would they only be seeking compensation from nvidia? :confused:
wouldnt all of the affiliate companies be at fault to, because afiak their selling display cards.. ect ect with the same technology, and what about other companies like motherboard manufactures and say.. ati? (now dont flame me ppl, im just curious as to why)
or do all chipset manufactures aside from nvidia currently pay royalties to said rambus whenever they have a similar or existing patented technology which would fall under these 17 or moreso infringments?? :banghead: :twitch:

It says rambus where trying to set up a license aggreement, i.e royalties. I assume everyone but nvidia have been paying royalties.
 

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
46,279 (7.69/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
lol Just when NV was trying to please investors by shooting out info about GT300, etc.
 
Joined
Feb 18, 2006
Messages
5,147 (0.78/day)
Location
AZ
System Name Thought I'd be done with this by now
Processor i7 11700k 8/16
Motherboard MSI Z590 Pro Wifi
Cooling Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4, 9x aigo AR12
Memory 32GB GSkill TridentZ Neo DDR4-4000 CL18-22-22-42
Video Card(s) MSI Ventus 2x Geforce RTX 3070
Storage 1TB MX300 M.2 OS + Games, + cloud mostly
Display(s) Samsung 40" 4k (TV)
Case Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic EVO Black
Audio Device(s) onboard HD -> Yamaha 5.1
Power Supply EVGA 850 GQ
Mouse Logitech wireless
Keyboard same
VR HMD nah
Software Windows 10
Benchmark Scores no one cares anymore lols
yeah when it rains ir pours, good info though was about to grab some nv stock, maybe I'll wait a bit.
 

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,472 (4.25/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
I think Rambus has completely left the technology field and entered the "sue random people to try to get money from them" field.
 
Joined
Oct 11, 2006
Messages
1,052 (0.16/day)
System Name My Current Desktop
Processor i9 12900KF
Motherboard Asus ROG STRIX Z690-E GAMING WIFI
Cooling ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360
Memory G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 6400 F5-6400J3239G16GA2-TZ5RS
Video Card(s) RTX 3090 FE
Storage SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 1TB
Display(s) Dell S2716DGR 27" TN 1440p
Case Fractal Design Torrent White
Audio Device(s) Schiit Bifrost2
Power Supply Corsair HX850
Mouse Razer Basilisk
Keyboard Keychron Q6 (brown)
Software Win 11 Pro
Why wont rambus just die??
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
746 (0.13/day)
Rambus does have some interesting technology, but they're increasingly acting like a patent troll. Obviously that's not a good thing for their business in the long run...
 

WarEagleAU

Bird of Prey
Joined
Jul 9, 2006
Messages
10,812 (1.67/day)
Location
Gurley, AL
System Name Pandemic 2020
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 "Gen 2" 2600X
Motherboard AsRock X470 Killer Promontory
Cooling CoolerMaster 240 RGB Master Cooler (Newegg Eggxpert)
Memory 32 GB Geil EVO Portenza DDR4 3200 MHz
Video Card(s) ASUS Radeon RX 580 DirectX 12 DUAL-RX580-O8G 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video C
Storage WD 250 M.2, Corsair P500 M.2, OCZ Trion 500, WD Black 1TB, Assorted others.
Display(s) ASUS MG24UQ Gaming Monitor - 23.6" 4K UHD (3840x2160) , IPS, Adaptive Sync, DisplayWidget
Case Fractal Define R6 C
Audio Device(s) Realtek 5.1 Onboard
Power Supply Corsair RMX 850 Platinum PSU (Newegg Eggxpert)
Mouse Razer Death Adder
Keyboard Corsair K95 Mechanical & Corsair K65 Wired, Wireless, Bluetooth)
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
so because they are suing your beloved Nvidia they are now in the randomly suing people business, Newtekie1? That doesnt make much sense. However, it is what it is.

I was gonna ask how come AMD/ATI wasnt hit by this but Im assuming they licensed the technology? Only thing I can think ok. Speaking of which, how the hell does Rambus even get into GDDR memory?
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
850 (0.14/day)
Location
USA
Thanks for the info cooler. Seems pretty steep for an almost dead company. $75m for 5 years? Then its renewable and only for ATI not AMD?
Apparently someone needs to buy rambus to kill them . . .

Their architecture sucked when it was in use in my opinion (dimm,spacer,dimm,spacer, no spacers no workie). Guess it’s alright for servers.
 

Chris_Ramseyer

Phison Rep
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
477 (0.08/day)
It is easy to look at the company and judge them this way but the truth is, Rambus owns quite a bit of the IP used for memory today. Companies have been stealing the tech for years, some know it and others don't. The problem really has to do with the way IP is handled in the US and for the world really. The entire system needs to be reworked.
 

Megasty

New Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
1,263 (0.22/day)
Location
The Kingdom of Au
Processor i7 920 @ 3.6 GHz (4.0 when gaming)
Motherboard Asus Rampage II Extreme - Yeah I Bought It...
Cooling Swiftech.
Memory 12 GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer - I Love Red
Video Card(s) ASUS EAH4870X2 - That Fan Is...!?
Storage 4 WD 1.5 TB
Display(s) 24" Sceptre
Case TT Xaser VI - Fugly, Red, & Huge...
Audio Device(s) The ASUS Thingy
Power Supply Ultra X3 1000W
Software Vista Ultimate SP1 64bit
Damn, NV just can't catch a break. Rambus certainly picked a fine time to sue them. They'll get their money like they did with AMD but I really am starting to feel sorry for NV, especially when I cash in on their stock in a year or two. Hopefully I didn't buy enough to become a part-owner :p
 

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,472 (4.25/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
so because they are suing your beloved Nvidia they are now in the randomly suing people business, Newtekie1?

I really don't care who they are sueing, and get off the "beloved nVidia" thing, just because you are an ATi fanboy and I have said negative things about ATi that doesn't mean I am an nVidia fanboy, I've said plenty of negative things about nVidia too. You just don't tend to care as much about those because nVidia bashing is perfectly fine with you, but the instant someone says something bad about ATi, you label them an nVidia fanboy.

Now, as for my comment. It is based on the fact that I haven't seen Rambus come out with any new technology in decades, but they just keep sueing any random person that uses DRAM every few months.

What was the last technology they came up with? XDR DRAM? Yeah, that really caught on, the only reason it even still exists is because the PS3 uses it, it failed in the PC world. What came before that? RD-RAM? How long ago was that? They haven't come up with anything at all, they make the majority of their money off sueing random people that use DRAM. Whenever they start to run low on money, they just sue another DRAM users.

It seems like RAMBUS is in the news for being in court at least once a year, and they haven't been in the news for any actual contribution to the industry in years.

Edit: Yep, a quick look at their history shows that since 2004 they have been in court at least once a year dealing with Patent crap. Sueing Hynix, Samsung, Elpida, Infineon etc. Basically anyone that produces or uses DRAM.
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
309 (0.05/day)
Location
virginia, usa
anybody check RDRAM prices lately? $150 for 256mb? WTF

RDRAM was such a joke. I laughed about it then, because it made no sense why anybody would want it over DDR SDRAM. The heat alone is pretty ridiculous.
 
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Messages
4,378 (0.69/day)
Location
Hurst, Texas
System Name The86
Processor Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard ASROCKS B450 Steel Legend
Cooling AMD Stealth
Memory 2x8gb DDR4 3200 Corsair
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 3060 Ti
Storage WD Black 512gb, WD Blue 1TB
Display(s) AOC 24in
Case Raidmax Alpha Prime
Power Supply 700W Thermaltake Smart
Mouse Logitech Mx510
Keyboard Razer BlackWidow 2012
Software Windows 10 Professional
ITs nvidia they will simply buy rambus and let everyone pay them royalities its how they do bussiness.
 
Top