An administrative law judge at the US International Trade Commission on Friday issued an internal ruling against graphics chip maker NVIDIA and others in a case involving Rambus memory interface technology.
The judge found NVIDIA and several other companies, including Hewlett-Packard and Gigabyte, in violation of Section 337 of the US Tariff Act of 1930. The judge has asserted that three of nine patents outlined in Rambus’ 2008 filing are valid, enforceable, and have been infringed upon.
The judge also ruled that there was no violation in two further patents, while Rambus voluntarily terminated investigation into the final four of nine in a request made last June.
The case is far from over, however, as a final ruling is likely to take several months. NVIDIA, the 16 board partners named in the suit and Rambus may request the ITC’s full commission to review the administrative law judge’s initial determination. If the commission grants a review, it may affirm, modify, reverse, set aside or remand all or part of Friday’s decision.
“All five of the patents continue to be subject to reexamination proceedings in the Patent and Trademark Office, in which the office has consistently found the asserted claims of all of these patents to be invalid, ” said David Shannon, NVIDIA EVP and General Counsel. “We will now take the patents before the full commission for a full review of the initial determination announced today.”
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