AMD Responds to Asetek's R9 Fury X Sales Cease-and-Desist

[btarunr]

AMD issued a response to a recent report which states that liquid cooling components maker Asetek issued a cease-and-desist to the company, to stop sales of the Radeon R9 Fury X graphics card, which implements a closed-loop liquid-cooling solution made by Cooler Master. In its response, AMD argues that the jury in the Asetek vs. CMI (Cooler Master) case did not mention the cooling solution of the Radeon R9 Fury X specifically, as infringing Asetek-held patents. The statement reads:

"We are aware that Asetek has sued Cooler Master. While we defer to Cooler Master regarding the details of the litigation, we understand that the jury in that case did not find that the Cooler Master heat sink currently used with the Radeon Fury X infringed any of Asetek's patents."

While AMD is right in pointing out that the original judgement does not name the R9 Fury X, or its cooling solution as an infringing product; there's no word on whether AMD will stop sales of the card. From the looks of it, AMD has no plans to stop sales of its flagship graphics product, and appears to have convincing legal arguments up its sleeves to continue selling the card, in the near future.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Chaitanya]

Good for AMD, some really needs to stick up to Asetek and that stupid broken US patent system.

 

[ZeppMan217]

Why should AMD bear any responsibility for CM's fuck up anyway?

 

[R-T-B]

Why should AMD bear any responsibility for CM's fuck up anyway?

Good question. If anything, this should represent a supply chain issue for AMD, not preventing the sale of the cards to consumers, but the pump to AMD.

 

[Sihastru]

Why should AMD bear any responsibility for CM's fuck up anyway?

Because the cooler on the Fury X isn't an accessory and it's not sold separately. It's an integral part of the video card's design.

AMD is 100% responsible for the components they source for their video cards. Especially if those components are unreliable or use unlicensed designs. Right now AMD are behaving like children, hanging on a technicality.

 

[qubit]

While I'm happy to see AMD get a good kicking for substandard products, I don't want to see them beaten by bs like this. By the looks of it they're going to be OK.

 

[ValenOne]

Because the cooler on the Fury X isn't an accessory and it's not sold separately. It's an integral part of the video card's design.

AMD is 100% responsible for the components they source for their video cards. Especially if those components are unreliable or use unlicensed designs. Right now AMD are behaving like children, hanging on a technicality.

Read it again

"We are aware that Asetek has sued Cooler Master. While we defer to Cooler Master regarding the details of the litigation, we understand that the jury in that case did not find that the Cooler Master heat sink currently used with the Radeon Fury X infringed any of Asetek’s patents"

 

[skline00]

Read the decision in Asetek v CM and you will see why Asetek sent out the Cease and Desist letter to put AMD on notice. From what I read, the judgment (not judgement) includes similar like pump designs. Without a hearing this will go back and forth. However, AMD is now on notice about this claim.

 

[Sihastru]

Read it again

"We are aware that Asetek has sued Cooler Master. While we defer to Cooler Master regarding the details of the litigation, we understand that the jury in that case did not find that the Cooler Master heat sink currently used with the Radeon Fury X infringed any of Asetek’s patents"

I don't think you understand what being a responsible person/entity means. Claiming that "you didn't know" is the lowest form of douchebaggery.

I'm all for AMD in the hope for healthy competition that would lead to better products and lower prices for the consumer, but I don't want them to get there like this, because once they're there they'll just continue being douchebags. I want them to get there on meritocracy principles.

 

[ZoneDymo]

I don't think you understand what being a responsible person/entity means. Claiming that "you didn't know" is the lowest form of douchebaggery.

I'm all for AMD in the hope for healthy competition that would lead to better products and lower prices for the consumer, but I don't want them to get there like this, because once they're there they'll just continue being douchebags. I want them to get there on meritocracy principles.

Read it again again....

 

[yogurt_21]

I don't think you understand what being a responsible person/entity means. Claiming that "you didn't know" is the lowest form of douchebaggery.

I'm all for AMD in the hope for healthy competition that would lead to better products and lower prices for the consumer, but I don't want them to get there like this, because once they're there they'll just continue being douchebags. I want them to get there on meritocracy principles.

the drugs you are on, put them down, then walk away and sober up.

Whatever you are seeing here is not from the real world.

 

[Cybrnook2002]

I don't think you understand what being a responsible person/entity means. Claiming that "you didn't know" is the lowest form of douchebaggery.

I'm all for AMD in the hope for healthy competition that would lead to better products and lower prices for the consumer, but I don't want them to get there like this, because once they're there they'll just continue being douchebags. I want them to get there on meritocracy principles.

 

[Sihastru]

Read it again again....

Ok, I'm going to type it slowly for you, so that you understand. The trial had nothing to do with the AMD and Gigabyte cards. The trial was about the closed loop water coolers that CMI makes for CPUs.

So one of the products that the court ruled in favor of Asetek was the Seidon 120M. AFTER the ruling:

Asetek’s attorneys have recently sent cease and desist letters to Gigabyte, demanding that it cease selling Giga-Byte’s GEFORCE GTX 980 Water Force [...] because it contains the Seidon 120M found by the court to infringe Asetek’s patents.
[...]
Asetek’s attorneys have also written a cease and desist letter to AMD, demanding that it stop selling its Radeon R9 Fury X product, because it infringes Asetek’s patents.

So there are two Gigabyte video cards that use a variant of a "Seidon 120M" cooler and the AMD Fury X, that has basically the same variant of the cooler.

As I said, a technicality, if the Seidon 120M infringes on the "pump inside the cooling block" then the variants of the cooler do so too. Since they all have the pump in the exact same location. Asetek is trying to talk to Gigabyte and AMD without involving the courts. They tried to talk with CMI too, but they refused to pay for the license.

Reading is something. Understanding, now there's the trick...

 

[Cybrnook2002]

And the argument is, talking to AMD is barking up the wrong tree. Asetek needs to talk to CMI, and if CMI won't budge, just seems they are pulling at straws and moving on to the next best thing (responsible or not). Teams of lawyers are similar to bill collectors, you don't pay, so they call your family. Your family is not responsible, but adds to the pressure on you. AMD is not at fault. AMD has paid CMI for a pump and cooling unit that meets the bill. CMI just decided to offer this pump, not AMD's fault.

 

[newtekie1]

Good for AMD, some really needs to stick up to Asetek and that stupid broken US patent system.

This isn't really a case of the broken patent system, this is one of the few cases where the system is being used properly. AseTek came up with the idea and even developed products that used the idea, and patented it. Other companies should not be allowed to rip that off.

They are also being more than reasonable with the licensing to allow other companies to use the idea.

And the argument is, talking to AMD is barking up the wrong tree. Asetek needs to talk to CMI, and if CMI won't budge, just seems they are pulling at straws and moving on to the next best thing (responsible or not). Teams of lawyers are similar to bill collectors, you don't pay, so they call your family. Your family is not responsible, but adds to the pressure on you. AMD is not at fault. AMD has paid CMI for a pump and cooling unit that meets the bill. CMI just decided to offer this pump, not AMD's fault.

Correct, it isn't AMD's fault, but they are selling a product that contains another product that is in violation. The burden falls on CoolerMaster, but you are completely correct with the bill collector anology, because I bet AMD is pressuring CoolerMaster pretty hard to pay the licensing fees the courts order them to pay.

Read it again

"We are aware that Asetek has sued Cooler Master. While we defer to Cooler Master regarding the details of the litigation, we understand that the jury in that case did not find that the Cooler Master heat sink currently used with the Radeon Fury X infringed any of Asetek’s patents"

The only problem is that a jury did find the cooler infinges on AseTek's patents. They found that any CoolerMaster product that uses the pump/block combo is using AseTek's patents, and CoolerMaster has to pay the court ordered licensing fees. Just because they added an extra part that now cools the VRM doesn't mean the original infringing part isn't infringing anymore.

 

[remixedcat]

I call that co Asstek

 

[GhostRyder]

Well this makes sense as stopping all sales while those two have issues would not help. I guess the question still comes across as how much of this custom design still violates the copyright.

The only thing that worries me is that the Dual GPU Fiji will be held up by this.

 

[Hit4]

 

[arbiter]

Since the product in Fury X was found to infringe on the Patent Asetek Can send C&D to gigabyte and AMD telling them to stop selling the product. Asetek can't jump right to sueing AMD for it since they are only a buyer of the product. If AMD keeps on selling it knowing it then eventually they could be sued. As much as you dislike the matter they can and are enforcing their rights since product in card it self violates their patent. Gigabyte and AMD could work out a deal to pay Asetek directly til they and CMI work out the matter.

Well this makes sense as stopping all sales while those two have issues would not help. I guess the question still comes across as how much of this custom design still violates the copyright.

The patent covers having pump build in to water block on the processor which pretty much all AIO use that.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Ok, I'm going to type it slowly for you, so that you understand. The trial had nothing to do with the AMD and Gigabyte cards. The trial was about the closed loop water coolers that CMI makes for CPUs.

So one of the products that the court ruled in favor of Asetek was the Seidon 120M. AFTER the ruling:



So there are two Gigabyte video cards that use a variant of a "Seidon 120M" cooler and the AMD Fury X, that has basically the same variant of the cooler.

As I said, a technicality, if the Seidon 120M infringes on the "pump inside the cooling block" then the variants of the cooler do so too. Since they all have the pump in the exact same location. Asetek is trying to talk to Gigabyte and AMD without involving the courts. They tried to talk with CMI too, but they refused to pay for the license.

Reading is something. Understanding, now there's the trick...

lol because you typing it slowly before posting makes any difference for me haha, there is a difference between talking and typing, you must realize this.

Apart from that, read it again again again, I afraid your last comment is ironic.

 

[Chaitanya]

This isn't really a case of the broken patent system, this is one of the few cases where the system is being used properly. AseTek came up with the idea and even developed products that used the idea, and patented it. Other companies should not be allowed to rip that off.

They are also being more than reasonable with the licensing to allow other companies to use the idea.



Correct, it isn't AMD's fault, but they are selling a product that contains another product that is in violation. The burden falls on CoolerMaster, but you are completely correct with the bill collector anology, because I bet AMD is pressuring CoolerMaster pretty hard to pay the licensing fees the courts order them to pay.



The only problem is that a jury did find the cooler infinges on AseTek's patents. They found that any CoolerMaster product that uses the pump/block combo is using AseTek's patents, and CoolerMaster has to pay the court ordered licensing fees. Just because they added an extra part that now cools the VRM doesn't mean the original infringing part isn't infringing anymore.

Coolermaster had Aquagate Mini R80 and R120 which also used the same idea of having Pump and CPU block combined as single unit. Those two AIO hit the market almost one year before Asetek even filed the patent, so how was Asetek awarded the patent for an idea which was already available in market for purchase?

 

[arbiter]

Coolermaster had Aquagate Mini R80 and R120 which also used the same idea of having Pump and CPU block combined as single unit. Those two AIO hit the market almost one year before Asetek even filed the patent, so how was Asetek awarded the patent for an idea which was already available in market for purchase?

well you can file patent for design any time even after the fact. you can design something then file patent for it years later. Apple has done the same thing on many idea's they stole.

 

[newtekie1]

Coolermaster had Aquagate Mini R80 and R120 which also used the same idea of having Pump and CPU block combined as single unit. Those two AIO hit the market almost one year before Asetek even filed the patent, so how was Asetek awarded the patent for an idea which was already available in market for purchase?

AseTek's original patent for the pump/block combo dates back to 2004. I don't see anything from CoolerMaster until 2005, when the R80 and R120 was released. Were do you see they were out a year before AseTek filed the patent?

 

[Chaitanya]

AseTek's original patent for the pump/block combo dates back to 2004. I don't see anything from CoolerMaster until 2005, when the R80 and R120 was released. Were do you see they were out a year before AseTek filed the patent?

nope their first patent for water cooling a semiconductor chips was patent no 7,412,844( and it was filed on 7th of March 2006 almost a year after CM brought out their Aquagate mini range of AIO. If you read that patent you will find drawings in that patent ominously similar to Aquagate mini blocks. I went through other patents filed by Asetek and the language and drawings used for filing is so vague that even EK, Aqua Computers, Swiftech, etc... all infringe upon their patents. Asetek is becoming a patent troll worse than Apple. We have already lost CoolIT systems from consumer market and there is a good chance we might lose few more AIO manufacturers due to this whole fucked up US patent system.
Take a look at the patents used by Asetek in Coolermaster case:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US8240362B2/en
http://www.google.co.in/patents/US8245764


http://vrworld.com/2014/07/02/aseteks-watercooling-patent-will-hurt-consumers/

 

[newtekie1]

http://www.google.com/patents/US7971632

Try again, 7,971,632 filed on Nov. 8, 2004. The Aquagate products didn't hit the market until 2005. And if you read the patents, you'll notice they are similar, containing a lot of the same drawings. This is because all their other patents are updates of this original patent, them adding to the original patent of the pump/block combo. And this is just the first patent to contain the pump/block combo, they have cooling system patents going back to 2000.