Nvidia countersues Intel for breach of contract

27.03.2009
Nvidia on Thursday countersued Intel, alleging the rival chip company of breach of contract related to a chip licensing agreement between the companies.

The countersuit escalates an ongoing patent-licensing battle between the companies, which disagree on the interpretation of memory technology in Intel's chips and its compatibility with Nvidia's chipsets.

In a filing in the State of Chancery Court in Delaware, Nvidia asked the judge to declare that Nvidia is allowed to make chipsets that support Intel's Nehalem and future processors that incorporate the new memory technology.

The suit comes in response to Intel's suit last month in the same court asking a judge to declare Nvidia is not licensed to produce chipsets compatible with such chips. Intel said an existing licensing agreement covers only old chips, while Nvidia said the contract agreement signed between 2004 covered the Nehalem and other future chips.

Intel's Nehalem chips integrate memory controllers inside the chip, which helps the CPU communicate with the memory faster. Nvidia makes chipsets, which are devices that help processors communicate with components like network and storage controllers.

The companies have had discussions for more than a year attempting to resolve the matter, but the talks have been unsuccessful. Both companies are now in court to resolve the dispute.