Rambus Inc. v. Nvidia
Encyclopedia
Rambus Inc. v. NVIDIA Corporation was a patent infringement case heard in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
. In 2008, Rambus Inc.
initially filed a complaint accusing NVIDIA Corporation of infringing seventeen Rambus patents.. Rambus Inc. licenses patents it owns to companies, these patents are either acquired and purchased from third parties, or are acquired through the filing of new technologies developed at Rambus. Since its founding in 1990, Rambus has acquired patents on many of the components that make up memory controllers
and modern computer processor chips. NVIDIA manufactures and distributes Graphics Processing Units (GPU). GPUs debuted in 1999 and have since greatly enhanced computer graphics and parallel processing capabilities.
In this case, starting in July of 2008, Rambus argued that NVIDIA's units infringed its patents on SDR
, DDR
, DDR2
, DDR3, GDDR
and GDDR3
technologies, to name a few. Rambus sought a preliminary injunction and compensation for damages under in addition to an adjudication
that NVIDIA has infringed and continues to infringe the Rambus patents. Early on, Rambus dropped two of the seventeen patent infringement claims due to covenant dealings. NVIDIA moved for a stay on the remaining fifteen patents pursuant to . Judge Susan Illston
ordered for a stay on nine patents, pending a ruling from the International Trade Commission (ITC) in which Rambus was filing similar patent infringement suits against NVIDIA as well as other related chip and memory manufacturing companies. The request to stay on the remaining six patents was denied. Later on it was settled that the nine patents presented in another ITC case were unenforceable in the case of Micron v. Rambus . In July, 2010, ITC ruled that NVIDIA violated three patents belonging to Rambus. NVIDIA soon signed a license with Rambus while appealing the ITC ruling.
, memory components, memory modules
, and memory systems. NVIDIA sells GPUs and has been doing so since 1990. Rambus filed a complaint that Nvidia's use of chip technology infringed on several patents that Rambus holds.
The complaint, filed on July 10, 2008, charged NVIDIA Corporation with infringing seventeen Rambus patents, though two of these claims were dropped. The fifteen patents considered in this case fall into one of two groups: those filed by Michael Farmwald and Mark Horowitz
, the founders of Rambus (described in the case as the six 'FH' patents), and nine patents claiming technology invented by Richard Barth and/or Frederick Ware, (the “Barth/Ware” patents). The complaint alleges, for each of the patents-insuit, that NVIDIA has directly infringed the patents “and/or has contributed and continues to contribute to the literal infringement and/or infringement under the doctrine of equivalents . . . and/or has actively induced and continues to actively induce others to infringe [the patents-in-suit].” Rambus sought monetary and injunctive relief, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees due to defendant’s willful infringement and the “exceptional nature of this case.”
The day after Rambus filed the patent lawsuit, NVIDIA filed an antitrust lawsuit against Rambus in the middle District of North Carolina. In December, 2008, the North Carolina court transferred NVIDIA's antitrust action to United States District Court for the Northern District of California on the grounds that NVIDIA's antitrust claims properly belonged as counterclaims to Rambus's patent infringement claims in this case. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered consolidation of the two cases.
On November 6, 2008, Rambus filed a complaint against NVIDIA in the United States International Trade Commission alleging infringement of the nine Barth/Ware patents. On December 4, 2008, NVIDIA moved to stay litigation on all of Rambus' infringement claims, on the ground that the ITC proceeding automatically stayed litigation on the Barth/Ware patents pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1659, and that, inter alia
, the FH patents involved many of the same products involved in the ITC proceedings.
On March 11, 2009, NVIDIA filed a motion to dismiss and a motion for partial summary judgment, the court found it premature to rule on the case, their decision having been bound in preclusion due to the ITC case. The court therefore directed the parties to discuss the propriety of a stay of all proceedings in all the consolidated cases pending the Federal Circuit's resolution of the enforceability of Rambus' patents in Micron and Hynix I. NVIDIA's both motions seek issue preclusion based on Judge Robinson's ruling in Micron Tech., Inc. v. Rambus, Inc., 255 F.R.D.135(D. Del. 2009), that Rambus spoliated evidence
and had a reputation of destroying relevant documents as part of its patent litigation strategy. Judge Robinson held that Rambus' patents were unenforceable as a sanction for spoliation of documents. NVIDIA contends that issue preclusion is appropriate because FH patents are from the same patent family as the patents litigated in Judge Robinson's case. NVIDIA also argued issue preclusion also applies to the Barth/Ware patents because Rambus had a policy of regularly destroying documents related to any patent prosecution.
However, the Court found it premature to rule on the preclusive effect of either Judge Robinson’s or Judge Whyte’s decisions, and that a stay of all proceedings would be appropriate. The patents in suit are related to the Rambus patents held unenforceable by Judge Robinson in Micron. The Federal Circuit’s resolution of Judge Robinson’s decision in Micron and Judge Whyte’s conflicting decision in Hynix I will be relevant – and potentially dispositive – to these proceedings. The court believes "A stay will thus promote judicial economy and conserve the parties’ and the judiciary’s resources. In addition, the harm resulting from a stay will be minimal".
On June 8, 2009, NVIDIA announced that Rambus had asked an administrative law judge at the International Trade Commission (ITC) to terminate the investigation of NVIDIA relating to four patents stemming from a complaint filed in November 2008 because they "conceded that NVIDIA products do not infringe on its four patents before the ITC".
On January 22, 2010, U.S. International Trade Commission judge ruled in an initial determination that NVIDIA has violated three patents belonging to Rambus. ITC also cleared NVIDIA from two other patents infringement. Due to this ruling Nvidia is facing a US import ban on some of its chips. The chips facing the US import ban are used in the nForce, Quadro, GeForce, Tesla and Tegra series graphics products, nearly every video card type manufactured by NVIDIA. However, David Shannon, executive of NVIDIA dismissed Rambus's victory on the other three patents because they will continue to be subject to reexamination proceedings in the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). He claimed that the US PTO has consistently found Rambus's asserted claims invalid.
On January 27, 2010, the court ordered the parties to address on the impact of these consolidated cases of the January 22, 2010 ruling by the International Trade Commission, as well as the status of any further proceedings in the ITC and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at the March 12, 2010 case management conference.
On July 26, 2010, U.S. International Trade Commission ruled NVIDIA chips infringed three Rambus patents, and issued an order that would ban imports of certain products containing the chips. NVIDIA said it can continue sales by taking advantage of a licensing arrangement Rambus reached with European regulators as part of an unrelated antitrust case.
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San...
. In 2008, Rambus Inc.
Rambus
Rambus Incorporated , founded in 1990, is a technology licensing company. The company became well known for its intellectual property based litigation following the introduction of DDR-SDRAM memory.- History :...
initially filed a complaint accusing NVIDIA Corporation of infringing seventeen Rambus patents.. Rambus Inc. licenses patents it owns to companies, these patents are either acquired and purchased from third parties, or are acquired through the filing of new technologies developed at Rambus. Since its founding in 1990, Rambus has acquired patents on many of the components that make up memory controllers
Memory controller
The memory controller is a digital circuit which manages the flow of data going to and from the main memory. It can be a separate chip or integrated into another chip, such as on the die of a microprocessor...
and modern computer processor chips. NVIDIA manufactures and distributes Graphics Processing Units (GPU). GPUs debuted in 1999 and have since greatly enhanced computer graphics and parallel processing capabilities.
In this case, starting in July of 2008, Rambus argued that NVIDIA's units infringed its patents on SDR
SDR
-Places:* Santander, Cantabria* Santander Airport, IATA airport code* Somalia, previously known as the Somali Democratic Republic* Southern Distributor Road, part of the Newport ring road in the United Kingdom...
, DDR
DDR
DDR may refer to:In entertainment:*Dance Dance Revolution, a music video game series by Konami*DDR , a Norwegian rock band singing in German.*DDR , a Greenlandic punk band singing in Danish.In organizations:...
, DDR2
DDR2
DDR2 may refer to:* DDR2 SDRAM, the computer memory technology* Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix, the video game* DDR2 , a human gene...
, DDR3, GDDR
GDDR
GDDR or Graphic Double Data Rate memory refers to memory specifically designed for use on graphics cards. GDDR is distinct from the more widely known DDR SDRAM types such as DDR3, although they share some technologies - including double data rate design - in common...
and GDDR3
GDDR3
Graphics Double Data Rate 3 is a graphics card-specific memory technology, designed by ATI Technologies with the collaboration of JEDEC.It has much the same technological base as DDR2, but the power and heat dispersal requirements have been reduced somewhat, allowing for higher performance memory...
technologies, to name a few. Rambus sought a preliminary injunction and compensation for damages under in addition to an adjudication
Adjudication
Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between the parties involved....
that NVIDIA has infringed and continues to infringe the Rambus patents. Early on, Rambus dropped two of the seventeen patent infringement claims due to covenant dealings. NVIDIA moved for a stay on the remaining fifteen patents pursuant to . Judge Susan Illston
Susan Illston
Susan Yvonne Illston is a San Francisco, California-based judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in the Ninth Judicial Circuit.-Biography:...
ordered for a stay on nine patents, pending a ruling from the International Trade Commission (ITC) in which Rambus was filing similar patent infringement suits against NVIDIA as well as other related chip and memory manufacturing companies. The request to stay on the remaining six patents was denied. Later on it was settled that the nine patents presented in another ITC case were unenforceable in the case of Micron v. Rambus . In July, 2010, ITC ruled that NVIDIA violated three patents belonging to Rambus. NVIDIA soon signed a license with Rambus while appealing the ITC ruling.
Background
Rambus Inc. develops new chip technologies, obtains patents for these technologies and subsequently sells licenses on these patents to companies in the memory chip and video card business, such as Intel and Micron Inc. . In the past year, 96% of its revenue came from licenses. Rambus licenses its technologies to customers who take these technologies and further develop them and integrate them into systems that are sold to consumers. An example of such systems are the PS3, laptops, and netbooks. The technologies include memory controllersMemory controller
The memory controller is a digital circuit which manages the flow of data going to and from the main memory. It can be a separate chip or integrated into another chip, such as on the die of a microprocessor...
, memory components, memory modules
Memory module
Memory module is a broad term used to refer to a series of dynamic random access memory integrated circuits modules mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use in personal computers, workstations and servers....
, and memory systems. NVIDIA sells GPUs and has been doing so since 1990. Rambus filed a complaint that Nvidia's use of chip technology infringed on several patents that Rambus holds.
The complaint, filed on July 10, 2008, charged NVIDIA Corporation with infringing seventeen Rambus patents, though two of these claims were dropped. The fifteen patents considered in this case fall into one of two groups: those filed by Michael Farmwald and Mark Horowitz
Mark Horowitz
Mark A. Horowitz is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford University. He received his BS and MS in electrical engineering from MIT in 1978 and he completed his Ph.D in electrical engineering from Stanford University under the direction of Prof. Robert Dutton in...
, the founders of Rambus (described in the case as the six 'FH' patents), and nine patents claiming technology invented by Richard Barth and/or Frederick Ware, (the “Barth/Ware” patents). The complaint alleges, for each of the patents-insuit, that NVIDIA has directly infringed the patents “and/or has contributed and continues to contribute to the literal infringement and/or infringement under the doctrine of equivalents . . . and/or has actively induced and continues to actively induce others to infringe [the patents-in-suit].” Rambus sought monetary and injunctive relief, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees due to defendant’s willful infringement and the “exceptional nature of this case.”
The day after Rambus filed the patent lawsuit, NVIDIA filed an antitrust lawsuit against Rambus in the middle District of North Carolina. In December, 2008, the North Carolina court transferred NVIDIA's antitrust action to United States District Court for the Northern District of California on the grounds that NVIDIA's antitrust claims properly belonged as counterclaims to Rambus's patent infringement claims in this case. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered consolidation of the two cases.
On November 6, 2008, Rambus filed a complaint against NVIDIA in the United States International Trade Commission alleging infringement of the nine Barth/Ware patents. On December 4, 2008, NVIDIA moved to stay litigation on all of Rambus' infringement claims, on the ground that the ITC proceeding automatically stayed litigation on the Barth/Ware patents pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1659, and that, inter alia
Inter Alia
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, the FH patents involved many of the same products involved in the ITC proceedings.
Procedural History
On November 13, 2008, the court denied the defendant's motion to strike and to dismiss. Rambus was required to provide additional factual information and legal contentions pursuant to the Local Patent Rules and discovery. .On March 11, 2009, NVIDIA filed a motion to dismiss and a motion for partial summary judgment, the court found it premature to rule on the case, their decision having been bound in preclusion due to the ITC case. The court therefore directed the parties to discuss the propriety of a stay of all proceedings in all the consolidated cases pending the Federal Circuit's resolution of the enforceability of Rambus' patents in Micron and Hynix I. NVIDIA's both motions seek issue preclusion based on Judge Robinson's ruling in Micron Tech., Inc. v. Rambus, Inc., 255 F.R.D.135(D. Del. 2009), that Rambus spoliated evidence
Spoliation of evidence
In law, spoliation of evidence is the intentional or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding...
and had a reputation of destroying relevant documents as part of its patent litigation strategy. Judge Robinson held that Rambus' patents were unenforceable as a sanction for spoliation of documents. NVIDIA contends that issue preclusion is appropriate because FH patents are from the same patent family as the patents litigated in Judge Robinson's case. NVIDIA also argued issue preclusion also applies to the Barth/Ware patents because Rambus had a policy of regularly destroying documents related to any patent prosecution.
However, the Court found it premature to rule on the preclusive effect of either Judge Robinson’s or Judge Whyte’s decisions, and that a stay of all proceedings would be appropriate. The patents in suit are related to the Rambus patents held unenforceable by Judge Robinson in Micron. The Federal Circuit’s resolution of Judge Robinson’s decision in Micron and Judge Whyte’s conflicting decision in Hynix I will be relevant – and potentially dispositive – to these proceedings. The court believes "A stay will thus promote judicial economy and conserve the parties’ and the judiciary’s resources. In addition, the harm resulting from a stay will be minimal".
On June 8, 2009, NVIDIA announced that Rambus had asked an administrative law judge at the International Trade Commission (ITC) to terminate the investigation of NVIDIA relating to four patents stemming from a complaint filed in November 2008 because they "conceded that NVIDIA products do not infringe on its four patents before the ITC".
On January 22, 2010, U.S. International Trade Commission judge ruled in an initial determination that NVIDIA has violated three patents belonging to Rambus. ITC also cleared NVIDIA from two other patents infringement. Due to this ruling Nvidia is facing a US import ban on some of its chips. The chips facing the US import ban are used in the nForce, Quadro, GeForce, Tesla and Tegra series graphics products, nearly every video card type manufactured by NVIDIA. However, David Shannon, executive of NVIDIA dismissed Rambus's victory on the other three patents because they will continue to be subject to reexamination proceedings in the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). He claimed that the US PTO has consistently found Rambus's asserted claims invalid.
On January 27, 2010, the court ordered the parties to address on the impact of these consolidated cases of the January 22, 2010 ruling by the International Trade Commission, as well as the status of any further proceedings in the ITC and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at the March 12, 2010 case management conference.
On July 26, 2010, U.S. International Trade Commission ruled NVIDIA chips infringed three Rambus patents, and issued an order that would ban imports of certain products containing the chips. NVIDIA said it can continue sales by taking advantage of a licensing arrangement Rambus reached with European regulators as part of an unrelated antitrust case.