Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NVidia Seeks 3dfx Injunction

Posted by Hemos on from the fight-in-the-market-not dept.

Marcus writes "Saw on Shugashack that NVidia has just filed a lawsuit against 3dfx seeking an injunction to stop all 3dfx Voodoo3/4/5 boards from shipping. NVidia's statement was 'This innovation is achieved through the annual investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development. We cannot allow the fruits of this investment to be misappropriated.'"

4 of 12 comments (clear)

  1. IANAHE by kindbud · · Score: 2

    (I Am Not A Hardware Engineer) But one of the patents (first one listed in the Shugasite article) seems to me to be for memory-mapped I/O. I think there was plenty of prior art...

    --
    Edith Keeler Must Die
  2. Nobody has replied to this? by talonyx · · Score: 2

    Weird. Nobody cares about this?
    Well, they can and should sue. They have a patent, after all. It IS illegal to infringe on a patent, right?

    Though about the ethics of this, it's just Nvidia trying to get a monopoly. Seeing as how Geforce2ultra is like 50 times faster than Voodoo5 6000 or whatever, no problem.

  3. Patent office will be our doom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3
    I looked up the various patents. Each covered some relatively obvious technique for transfering data to an I/O device. Each is something that any I/O device maker would consider implementing. There are likely to be dozens of companies that violate these patents, but NVidia is of course only going after their weaker competitor (at present).

    If you ask me, I think our current patent system is stifling innovation, not protecting it. With every niggly obvious idea being patented, it is literally impossible to create a product that doesn't violate dozens of patents. Small companies without big patent portfolios to make deals with can only make due by not attracting the attention of the companies whose patents they are violating.

    Would things be better if we just tossed away the idea of patents? Probably not, but where does one draw the line between real innovation and the next obvious step?

    I'm sure this discussion has been going round and round many times, but it really ticks me off each time I see a new legal case like this. The companies with the bigger legal budgets will prevail, not those with the better products (note: I'm generalizing here, not trying to make statements about 3dfx/NVidia).

    1. Re:Patent office will be our doom by aetheroar · · Score: 2

      Seriously, the way patents are implemented is outdated. Patentees get at least 5 years (or is it 20) to profit from their patent. On the other hand chip speeds double every 18 months, says Moore. Why not make technology patents worth like only 6-12 months of personal profit. 5 years is great if you invent a new plow or sewing machine(such things were the intended targets of the law), but for computer patents obselescence comes too quickly, and the average judge on the bench can't tell an IC from his IV. On another point entirely, aren't they suing away their own lifeblood? Without competition from 3dfx what will keep them to their 6-month design cycle. For that matter, why not just push out chips more slowly and milk the public for profit. We NEED 3dfx to keep nVidia being the good chip people they are. --Use the Batgas!