Nvidia Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. have jointly announced on Monday settling retaliatory patent lawsuits between the companies. Through the settlement agreement, Nvidia has avoided a probable ban on imports of some of its graphics chips. The agreement leads to a license for a small number of patents by each company to the other ducking broad cross-licensing of patents or other compensation.
The deal appears just before the judgment gets pronounced by the US International Trade Commission in a case filed against Nvidia by Samsung. Prior to that, a trade judge has hold Nvidia and its customers guilty of infringing patent laws while making the chips. The dispute involves graphics chips that are of great demand since smart-phones and tablet computers rely on them while streaming movies and playing complex video games, reports Bloomberg.
During fall of 2014, Nvidia has filed a lawsuit infringing patents covering the graphics chips. On the contrary, Samsung has accused Nvidia for infringing upon six patents while campaigning falsely for marketing the world's fastest mobile processor, reports The Wall Street Journal citing Nvidis'a regulatory filing as the source.
The agreement is said to immediately resolve all pending IP related litigations. The retaliatory allegations are pending with the US district courts, the US International Trade Commission and the US Patent Office, reports VentureBeat quoting Nvidia, the world's largest standalone graphics chips maker. Further details on the agreement haven't yet been disclosed while not indicating for any transfer of money. Nvidia's major portion of royalty has been earned from selling graphics chips. However the chip giant has failed to create greater market for its processors widely used in phones and tablets. Through filing the lawsuit, Nvidia has been trying to gain royalties from its invented chips allegedly used by competitors without paying for them. In the lawsuit awaiting to get the verdict pronounced on Monday, Nvidia has argued that the technology under question is so old that Samsung, the plaintiff, doesn't even use it. The Santa Clara, California based company also pleads for innocence since the Samsung patented inventions cover minor features. The case also accuses some of Nvidia's clients including Biostar Microtech International Corp., Jaton Corp. and EliteGroup Computer Systems Co. Notably mentioning, South Korea based Samsung has lost the first phase of a civil case in Virginia.
