The United States Patent and Trademark Office ruled in favor of NVIDIA yesterday to reject 41 claims for the first seven of nine patent infringement allegations Rambus filed with the ITC last November.

The rejected claims are part of a broader allegations by Rambus which accuse NVIDIA of using patented memory controller technology in the GeForce 9000-series GPUs. The memory IP firm strives to collect royalty payment or halt sales of the infringing GPUs entirely.

“We are pleased that the USPTO decided to review the patentability of Rambus’ patents and agreed with Nvidia’s challenge to all 41 claims,” said NVIDIA chief attorney David Shannon. “We will continue to vigorously defend this matter in the ITC.”

The remaining two patent infringement claims which have not yet been addressed are pending initial resolution within the next 60 days. At the end of the initial ruling, both firms will have the opportunity to protest the patent rejection thereby extending the process.

While the USPTO rulings in the matter are not binding in the proceedings started by Rambus with the November ITC filing, they will help persuade the commission’s decision.