PS3’s Cell Processor Faces Patent Challenge

Grind up your PS3, a California company says it was the first to patent the concept behind the Cell processor and wants Sony's allegedly infringing systems gone.

You may have thought that the Cell processor powering the PlayStation 3 was a fairly new innovation in processing technology – but according to a California-based Parallel Processing Corp., its company developed the technology and patented it back in 1991. A lawsuit filed on Thursday in the Texas Eastern Federal District Court alleges that Sony ‘s processor infringes on Parallel Processing Corp.’s patent.

The patent is for “A high speed computer that permits the partitioning of a single computer program into smaller concurrent processes running in different parallel processors.” Oddly enough, Sony’s own patent, filed in 2001 and issued in 2007, actually lists the 1991 patent as a citation. In other words, Sony’s own patent lawyers have already seen the old patent and deemed it not to be a threat, and the U.S. Patent Office apparently agreed when it issued Sony the patent in June.

That’s no guarantee that Parallel Processing Corp. doesn’t have a case, but it makes their somewhat outlandish outcome seem a little less likely. According to NextGen, the company is demanding “the impounding and destruction of all Defendant’s products that infringe the ‘000 Patent.” Lock up your PS3’s, kids!