Usually the patent wars are between Samsung and Apple, at least that’s what we and probably most of you are used to at this point. Those horrible trials and tribulations are over, we say horrible because we enjoyed them just about as much as you probably did, which was really not at all. This latest patent dispute however is not between Samsung and Apple. Samsung is involved, and they’re being sued, but this time around Apple is nowhere in sight and the claimant is actually Nvidia. Samsung seems to have quite the easy time getting in the media over patent infringement, although instead of design this time around it’s over Nvidia’s graphics patents. Also included in the lawsuit is Qualcomm, a major manufacturer if mobile processors and quite possibly the biggest supplier to device OEM’s globally, as well as Nvidia’s biggest competitor when it comes to graphics processing. According to Nvidia, Qualcomm and Samsung are both infringing on their patents.
Which patents you ask? We can tell you, because we know you especially wish to know. First though, more on what Nvidia is seeking in regards to the infringement on their patents. They apparently want the blocking of so far what has been listed as a total of twelve different Samsung devices, which all include CPUs/GPUs that have at least some tech inside of them that infringe upon Nvidia’s graphics patents. The idea behind seeking a ban in this case is just a means to an end, unlike with Apple who sought to have device sales banned completely and for good.
In this case Nvidia merely wants Samsung to pay them licensing fees, something that is totally reasonable if Samsung has actually infringed upon Nvidia’s graphics patents in the first place. Unless Samsung pays these fees to Nvidia to license the tech apparently used, Nvidia is seeking a ban on the Galaxy Note, the Note Pro, Note 3, Tab S, Tab Pro, Tab 2, the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S 4, and the Galaxy S5, and lastly the Samsung Infuse 4G and the Samsung Illusion. According to Nvidia, Samsung and Qualcomm are infringing on patents related to unified shading, programmable shading, the concept of the dedicated GPU, and a GPU that includes multiheaded processing. Since Qualcomm makes chips for many more OEM’s besides Samsung, they could be coughing up quite a bit in the end, on top of a likely long court battle.