Nvidia licenses Rambus memory tech Graphics chip maker Nvidia has partially resolved its legal issues with lawsuit-happy Rambus by signing a patent agreement with the memory technology maker. Rambus and Nvidia announced this morning that the patent licensing agreement covers SDR memory controllers as well as DDR, DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR, LPDDR2, GDDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4, …
@"DDR, DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR, LPDDR2, GDDR2, GDDR3, GDDR4, and portions of GDDR5 memory controllers"
What so Rambus now controls patents on all memory controllers?! ... Or is this another patent Chess game to expand its meaning by implied wrong doing (by bullying people to sign up to their licencing protection racket) rather than actually outright proving wrong doing. See world just about everyone but you has signed the Rambus licencing agreement so they all agree with Rambus, so now you, you and you hiding at the back can now also pay us protection money or we beat up up in court, after all the judge will see all these companies already signed up to our licencing protection racket so they all agree with us) ... that seems to becoming a common game these days in patent legal cases. Get people to sign licences even when they have done no wrong, then force everyone else to sign the licences by saying look all these companies already agree with us as they have signed up so now you have to licence from us as well. WTF!
So now Rambus controls every memory controller?!
Surely the rest of the industry can get behind JEDEC and its standards to beat Rambus back into line, otherwise this legal move (and PR move) sounds like Rambus now lay legal claim to all memory controllers?!
e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JEDEC_memory_standards
That's a wonderful deal for Rambus to imply wrong doing on just about all major memory controllers as now every memory device and every CPU and GPU can now have a Rambus patent tax added to it!
Wonderful and so in the end we will all end up having to pay more to cover that Rambus patent tax! (and worse still its multiple times! (CPU+GPU+RAM)) on every bit of technology we now buy ... oh joy! :(
I thought that was the problem... RAMbus got proposed specifications adopted as the standard, but didn't tell anyone that they already applied for the patents. Making anything that followed the standard subject to RAMbus for royalty payments.
IIRC there was a great furor about it being underhanded, etc. and a call to ensure that anything submitted for consideration for a standard either (a) could not be patented or (b) had to have any and all patents consigned to the standard body for trusteeship and royalty free licensing.
They are undoubtedly a driving force in innovation.
At one condition : those who hold the patents make the product.
It is normal for a patent holder to be rewarded for establishing a new, innovative product and making the effort to bring said product to the market.
It is not normal for a patent holder to be rewarded if all he does is brainstorm without ever actually making anything. That is called intellectual masturbation.
I don't care if your idea works, if you do not create wealth, you're just a parasite and I see no reason to give you money.
Excuses such as "we license our know-how to companies" are not valid. If you don't create a product and bring it to market, you are nothing but a parasite.
...pray tell...
You spend £5 billion developing a new product (not unheard of in the computer and drugs industry). You create the product and then some sweat shop in China knock off a clone for 1p each.
So this company makes a £4.9 billion loss on said product and goes bust. meanwhile, el cheapo knock off makes a few million for no effort.
So enlightment me little child, how again does patenting hardware stiffle innovation?
Are only valid in the US, everywhere else in the world tld them to go take a running jump! So the only people who will bve paying higher prices are the yanks , shame, but thats what happens when you allow a patent office to by staffed by morons, Currupt judges to exist in east texas , and shysters in RAMBUS to shraff a standards comittee and get away with it!
"Are only valid in the US, everywhere else in the world tld them to go take a running jump! So the only people who will bve paying higher prices are the yanks"
Uhh seeing as nVidia are based in the states but sell GPUs (among other things) all over the world the price hit will still affect you blightys as well. They file taxes inthe states so they still need to account for the sales overseas IIRC.
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