Velocity Micro: Nvidia/Samsung Feud Is Not Our Fight
Back on September 4, Nvidia revealed that it had filed patent infringement complaints against Qualcomm and Samsung in the U.S. District Court in Delaware as well as with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Nvidia's portfolio contains over 7,000 patents (issued and pending), and Nvidia alleges that the two companies infringe on at least seven.
According to Nvidia, the company met with Samsung several times to show that these patents apply to the graphics architecture Samsung uses, and all Samsung mobile devices. Samsung fired back, saying that the problem "mostly" falls on its suppliers, not Samsung. Because the negotiations produced no results, Nvidia was forced to file its complaints.
"Without licensing Nvidia's patented GPU technology, Samsung and Qualcomm have chosen to deploy our IP without proper compensation to us," said Nvidia's David Shannon. "This is inconsistent with our strategy to earn an appropriate return on our investment."
Now, Nvidia reported that Samsung has filed a complaint of its own and has for some reason included Virginia-based PC maker Velocity Micro in the process. This lawsuit covers eight patents, all of which are supposedly violated by Velocity Micro and six of which are violated by Nvidia.
Shannon reported on Wednesday that Samsung claimed Nvidia is misleading customers with false advertisements by saying the Tegra K1 is "the world's fastest mobile processor." To back up that claim, Samsung insisted that several benchmarks reveal that its Exynos 5433 is a bit faster than Nvidia's Tegra K1.
"We aren't yet ready to respond formally to Samsung's lawsuit," Shannon added. "But we can't hold back on their false contention that Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 outperforms the Shield tablet."
Shannon indicated that Samsung is going after PC maker Velocity Micro because the company wants to keep the fight within Virginia due to the state's speedy processing. Velocity Micro President and CEO, Randy Copeland, sounded surprised in his open letter to the public, stating that the lawsuit came out of nowhere.
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"We know nothing about the previous issues between Samsung and Nvidia, and we don’t care," Copeland said.
His response to the lawsuit seems rather bitter, revealing that the small boutique company will be forced to use "precious company resources and energy" to defend itself from Samsung. This is not the company's fight, he said, yet Samsung's legal tactic will affect not only the employees of Velocity Micro, but the surrounding community.
"If this is how Samsung operates, we want no part of it, and we hope others agree and consider this during this upcoming holiday shopping season," Copeland concluded.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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mykalios This whole Patent crap is getting way too out of hand. I get that when a real Patent is stolen and causes a measurable amount of monetary loss, then yes sue away, but all these companies are being spoiled brats throwing temper tantrums. Samsung is just bitter over the Apple thing and now they are going after small companies like Velocity Micro. Really says a lot about Samsung as a company that they would go after an underdog like Velocity Micro. Shame on you Samsung.Reply -
qbngringo As Copeland said, Samsung is going to force them to use their resources fighting a battle they have way of even participating in. The small company I work for is constantly bleed dry by patent trolls, trademark infringement lawsuits, and other legal issues that costs thousands of dollars just in consultations before you even begin. This shows Samsung is selfish and willing do drag a company, their employees, and the American economy down if it will help their position even slightly. This could easily cost Velocity Micro hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal defense which may very likely bankrupt them. Shame on you Samsung, I now can't wait to trade in my S5 and will avoid your products at all cost.Reply
I hope other follow suit, we need to protect the American Economy not allow some profit focused foreign entity to drag us down in the interest of speeding up a legal battle that will not even affect their bottom line.
As an American, employee of a small business, and accountant this is very disgusting. -
lorfa I don't understand. What possible Samsung patents could a system builder boutique be infringing on? Wouldn't the same apply to like a hundred other boutiques? Does anyone have a link to the lawsuit info?Reply -
Accountant to Cthulhu "This shows Samsung is selfish and willing do drag a company, their employees, and the American economy down if it will help their position even slightly."Reply
From what I have heard from small- and medium-sized suppliers of Samsung in Korea, that's how they treat their own countrymen. If they strangle companies right in their own country like that, you can imagine how they're willing to treat foreigners. -
rantoc Guess the next ssd raid wont be 850 pro's after all, when their using a small company as doormath just to get to the competition - That is nothing i like to sponsor by purchasing their products.Reply -
Tacacs Guys, it's only natural in a battle between David & Goliath to spontaneously take David's side.. and before you rush to say I'm defending Goliath, let me assure you.. not at all..Reply
I'm just saying that I wouldn't fall from the clouds if the companies were vise versa in terms of power that the same things wouldn't happen again.
See.. when money comes in.. decency waves bye bye usually..
Besides, it's not about American economy in particular.. it's about local economy in general.. either it's American, European and so on.. basically anything, not made in China, if anything like that exists nowadays anyway..
Yeah, Samsung is acting like a little b**** here, taking it out on the tiny company but hey!
Guess who was it, that gave Samsung the Giant status in the first place ??
Wasn't it most of the US-EU companies outsourcing their.. everything, careless about the domino effect that had on us ?!
Wasn't us consumers that kept buying like craAazy their products ?!
So you see.. truth is ALWAYS in the middle folks and what I most certainly agree 100% with the above is.. think very well how you'll spend your holiday, and not only, money from now on. -
killamike So, let me get this straight. Samsung is suing a boutique system builder for using nVidia GPUs in their systems, essentially because they operate entirely in a state they want to litigate against nVidia in... Wow. That is just damn straight nasty. Samsung products, never again.Reply -
Top Tom Its time to boycott Samsung.Reply
I was looking to buy a Samsung UE65HU8500 its the Curved home cinema screen now Samsung can shove it up its hole. Samsung is flinging FUD with this frivolous lawsuit against Velocity Micro or any other boutique PC builder. -
mrmotion I'm not going to lie. I'm still buying Samsung. For the same reason I always have. Something to be said for quality. While I don't agree with this, it wont stop me from buying their product. Good luck with your boycott...Reply