Rambus Sues Nvidia

Memory developer Rambus has filed suit against graphics maker Nvidia, claiming the company is infringing on its high-speed memory technology.

Memory technology developer Rambus has been a source of controversy in the computing industry for several years. The company filed for a patent on high-speed memory technology way back in 1990, and then worked to have that technology widely adopted by the industry—and it was. But along the way came accusations that the company was using its membership in the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council to effectively establish a monopoly over high-speed memory technology…and Rambus would go on to sue memory developers like Hynix Semiconductor for violating its patents. The court battles have been long and drawn out, but lately have been turning in Rambus’s favor, with an appeals could recently overturning Federal Trade Commission findings that Rambus had unlawfully monopolized markets.

Now, graphics developer Nvidia finds itself in Rambus’s crosshairs, with the company filing a patent infringement suit in the Northern District of California over Nvidia’s use of high-speed memory architectures. The suit alleges Nvidia products with controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, and GDDR3 memory infringe on some 17 Rambus patents; Rambus wants Nvidia barred from selling infringing products along with unspecified 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 Rambus senior VP and general counsel Tom Lavelle, in a statement. “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.”

Nvidia declined to make any comment on the suit.