It seems like it was only yesterday (late December 2015 to be exact) when Samsung decided to file a lawsuit against Nvidia for allegedly infringing its patents. Apparently, the love-hate relationship between the two companies – which started way back in 2014 – will now see a peaceful end.
Nvidia has announced that an agreement has been reached between itself and Samsung to settle all “pending intellectual property litigation” between the two companies. According to sources, the agreement indicates that both parties have agreed to license a number of patents to each other. However, no broad cross-licensing of patents or other compensation were granted.
The three-year legal battle started when Nvidia decided to claim royalties for several components used in specific mobile chips, which it claimed other companies like Samsung were using without permission. Samsung countered this by filing a lawsuit against Nvidia for allegedly using certain “innovations” in the company’s Shield tablets and chips.
Finally, the ITC (International Trade Commission), decided to investigate both claims and later found that Samsung’s mobile processors were not equipped with any Nvidia technologies. To make matters worse for Nvidia, the ITC came up with a follow-up decision stating that Nvidia was in fact infringing three Samsung patents in its graphics chips – to which, if found guilty, would result in a sales ban for certain Nvidia products.
Interestingly, the final decision on the latter matter was due to be finalised and announced by the ITC sometime this week, but following the recent agreement between both Nvidia and Samsung, it is said that ITC will be dismissing the case and will longer be releasing any statement regarding this issue.
(Source: Nvidia via BBC, AnandTech, Bloomberg, TechPowerUp)
