Tuesday, November 22nd 2011
Apple Defends Patent Claims by S3 Graphics Thanks to Timely Help by AMD
The world of corporate disputes is a funny one. S3 Graphics filed a compliant against Apple for infringing four of its patents related to its graphics IP. Later this year, ITC announced a verdict ruling in favor of S3 Graphics around the same time S3 Graphics was being purchased by HTC. In a spectacular turn of events, on November 21, ITC took a U-turn by overruling the favorable verdict and dismissing S3 Graphics' case.
Commentators note that AMD's intervention into the case as a non-party may have played a key role, AMD claimed the patents in question to be its own, later Apple sought dismissal of the case based on the grounds of AMD's claims. ITC denied AMD and Apple requests to publicly disclose the details of the patents in question, so the the public would't find out what patent claims were used against S3 Graphics. AMD is currently the principal supplier of GPUs for Apple's Mac products, though there are now rumors that with the next generation of Macs, Apple could change its GPU supplier to AMD's rival NVIDIA.
Source:
VR-Zone
Commentators note that AMD's intervention into the case as a non-party may have played a key role, AMD claimed the patents in question to be its own, later Apple sought dismissal of the case based on the grounds of AMD's claims. ITC denied AMD and Apple requests to publicly disclose the details of the patents in question, so the the public would't find out what patent claims were used against S3 Graphics. AMD is currently the principal supplier of GPUs for Apple's Mac products, though there are now rumors that with the next generation of Macs, Apple could change its GPU supplier to AMD's rival NVIDIA.
13 Comments on Apple Defends Patent Claims by S3 Graphics Thanks to Timely Help by AMD
So S3 will have to go back to court... this is a clear case of who has the deepest pockets to pay lawyers the longest, and also an "HTC+S3" vs "Apple+AMD". Somehow, I fall favour on the side of the small boys... but then again... they aint American companies are they? Protectionism or what?!
Sounds, sorta, like AMD is trying to make nice with Apple.:rolleyes:
Is AMD slimming down for a date with Apple?
The company that spent so long debunking the Mhz is everything myth is now the same company that couldn't figure out how to sell a Mac that relies more on GPU strength than CPU.
Intel just won out this time because of CPU performance alone.
I imagine Apple will continue with Intel for at least another gen. Then we'll see if Mac people do the same thing they did years ago and complain Apple into getting decent graphics. If AMD had given Trinity tech instead of Llano, I imagine Apple might have used AMD.
I'll still hope for it. But more and more Apple is selling me out of ever buying another Mac. For the Mac apps I still use, I figure I just gotta find similar software on PC side. When I finally do...so long Apple.
www.tcmagazine.com/tcm/news/misc/40871/s3-graphics-targets-apple-two-more-lawsuits
The patents in question are:
- No. 5,945,997 entitled "block- and band-oriented traversal in three-dimensional triangle rendering"
- No. 5,581,279 entitled "VGA controller circuitry"
If Apple gotten hold to some of AMD's patents , Apple's legal team could do some serious damage...
That or Cook doesn't have the same vendetta issues that Jobs had toward nVidia/Adobe before he passed, and nVidia said we'd do it for a ton less than what you'd pay AMD.