Nvidia sues Intel

Nvidia countersues Intel for breach of contract related to a chip licensing agreement between the two companies. When Intel sued NVIDIA earlier this month alleging that the GPU maker had infringed upon its patents.

The suit seeks to terminate Intel’s license to Nvidia’s patents related to graphics processing and three-dimensional computing and comes in response to a related suit by Intel last month.

Nvidia believes that without a licensing agreement, Intel’s line of integrated graphics chips violate Nvidia’s patent portfolio, according to Nvidia spokesman Hector Marinez.

The complaint represents the latest salvo in an escalating feud between the two chipmakers that has moved from the marketplace to the courtroom.

The disagreement stems from the fact that Intel’s new generation of Nehalem microprocessors feature an integrated memory controller. According to Intel, the 2004 licensing agreement only covers its previous generation of products, in which the memory controller was separate from the microprocessor.

Links

• NVIDIA’s suit (PDF)
• Nvidia sues Intel

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