3DFX wins over nVidia

[VladTrishkin]

link



<< SAN JOSE, Calif.- October 16, 2000 -3dfx Interactive® Inc. (NASDAQ:TDFX) announced today that it has received favorable court rulings concerning the scope of the patents it has asserted against nVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in a patent infringement lawsuit originally filed by 3dfx on September 21, 1998. The company also announced that as a result of these favorable rulings, it plans to file for summary adjudication of infringement. >>

 

[convex]

i like the statement at the bottom



<< This document may contain forward-looking statements that are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties. The words ``estimate,'' ``project,'' ``intend,'' ``expect,'' ``believe,'' &quot;desire,&quot; &quot;could&quot; and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements related to the outcome of the Company's motion for summary adjudication as well as the overall outcome of the litigation. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to the factors set forth in the Company's current report on Form 10-Q for the most recently ended fiscal quarter and other reports and documents filed by Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. >>



if you can't do it with benchmarks, try it in court... deja-vu with the rambus fiasco?

 

[Czar]

Fuuck, I hate this industry, they allways have to sue everyone over everything. Why cant they just make their own products and then sell them??

 

[Jeraden]

Is that a rip on 3dfx or Nvidia Czar? If 3dfx wins the lawsuit its because Nvidia didn't make their own product, they just used what 3dfx had already done. While I agree a lot of these lawsuits out there are completely frivilous, its important not to lose the valid ones. Patent infringement is a serious problem when its a legitimate claim. A lot of people just jump on anyone suing and instantly slam them as greedy money grubbers.

 

[convex]

because r&amp;d is expensive. using research that a compney has spent millions of dollars on is on par with straight up stealing cash from the other company

 

[MadRat]

I wouldn't even try to relate RAMBUSt to 3DfX.
The history here is nothing alike.

 

[Czar]

Jeraden

Its about every company that steals technology or sues everyone when they start to go down. And those numbers are many.

 

[Wingznut]

&quot;if you can't do it with benchmarks, try it in court&quot;

&quot;...or sues everyone when they start to go down&quot;


Don't forget that 3dfx filed this suit back in '98. They were still on top then.

 

[Noriaki]

<< Fuuck, I hate this industry, they allways have to sue everyone over everything. Why cant they just make their own products and then sell them?? >>



Absolutely agree with you. But which are you refferring to?

3dfx claims that nVidia stole their method of multitexturing exactly, and are understandably upset, if this is the case then it's a serious issue, 3dfx came up with the design and are using it patented, if nVidia is using it regardless without paying royalties it's theft.

If 3dfx is lying about this and is just trying to bring nVidia down any way they can, then it's Rambus all over again. But if nVidia actually did steal the patents then they are a bunch of thieves.

I'm not qualified to make claims as to which is which, so I won't.
I have my opinion, but posting your opinion on something like this in a public BBS is a good way to start a long flame war (remembers many long threads with fkloster/Rambus vs the world), and my opinion doesn't really matter much here, only the courts' does.

 

[Fozzie]

They couldn't have stolen the Patent because it wasn't fgeven granted at the time the TNT was being produced. Anyway, I suggest if your interested in this then you go checkout the large discussion over at the Beyond3D forums. Both sides of the issue have well thought out arguements and I think most people will be surprised to find out the facts.

Lets just say that 3dfx doesn't need to stop with nVidia if they win. If you like competition and openstandards and don't like litigation and forced royalties then you better hope 3dfx doesn't win.



Beyond3D

 

[BenSkywalker]

Fozzie-

Have you read into this?

Companies that would fall under the judges guidelines-

ATi
Matrox
nVidia
Intergraph
SGI
E&amp;S
3DLabs!
Discreet
Alias|Wavefront
Intel
AMD
IBM
Motorola
Caligari
MIPS
Sun
Pixar
Newtek
Microsoft
id
Epic
Electronic Arts
Nintendo
Sega
Sony
Panasonic(Matsushita)

To start with off the top of my head. This ruling is one of the most vague I have ever seen. Should be no problem at all for nVidia to have this thrown out, their are examples of the principles that 3dfx holds a patent for dating back to the 70s.

As it stands, by the judges ruling, any function in the computer that uses math to combine seperate portions of a 3D image into one without first passing it to a framebuffer is in violation.

All the DX17 pixel shading features are violations considering the judge's ruling, even though it remains a decade away(yes, I meant to write 17 and not 7).

This remdinds me of the IBM patent on BIOSs.

Noriaki-

&quot;3dfx claims that nVidia stole their method of multitexturing exactly, and are understandably upset, if this is the case then it's a serious issue, 3dfx came up with the design and are using it patented, if nVidia is using it regardless without paying royalties it's theft.&quot;

The &quot;exact&quot; duplication isn't even close. The basic idea behind it is, but that is like Intel pressing a suit against PPC(IBM/Motorola) for using RAM. Yes, this is that broad and absurd. If 3dfx wins, the entire 3D world should be worried, this covers anything current, including all the game makers, visualization and CAD package designers. and CPU manufacturers.

 

[Deeko]

Remember the suit nvidia filed against 3dfx? Those patents seemed alot more vague than these.

 

[KingDeviant]

Czar, this isn't a last-ditch desperate attempt by a company going out of business. The lawsuit was filed when 3dfx was still on top. Maybe Nvidia wouldn't be where they are today if not for &quot;borrowing&quot; some technology from 3dfx. Either way..let the courts decide.

 

[VladTrishkin]

3dfx is like Intel, it will take a lot to &quot;kill&quot; them. Remember that competition is good.

 

[Sharkmeat]

Patents don't have to be issued just registed befor other same type product.If 3dfx was first let them have the right to get what is there,s. If nvidia got where they are by other than honest means then let nVidia suffer the blind scales of justice and the thrust of the sword.I hope nvidia,s stock holders are in a good mood.Beside stocks are a rich mans way to gamble with the church blessing,s .

 

[Rigoletto]

&quot;where there's a hit there's a writ&quot;.
Did I tell you about how Micheal Crichton got his idea for Jurassic Park from looking over my shoulder 10 years ago when I was drawing a T.Rex on my napkin on a rainy day at a seaside resort?