Court rules Samsung not infringing Nvidia graphics technology patents

A court ruled on Friday that Nvidia's lawsuit over Samsung's improper use of graphics technology was not strong enough, in a major setback to the company.

The judge ruled that Nvidia's patent related to graphics technology had not been infringed by the Korean firm.

Graphics card and technology major Nvidia in a  lawsuit with International Trade Commission in September 2014 claimed that Samsung's products had infringed its patented technology.

The company called for blocking of certain Samsung products in the US market. Nvidia also filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Delaware over the issue in September last year.

Commenting on the ruling, Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia said, "Today's initial determination is one more step in the ITC's legal process. We remain confident in our case." Nvidia had called for a ban on shipment of several Samsung smartphones including the Galaxy Note Edge, Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5.

In the order passed at International Trade Commission, Washington DC, administrative Law judge Thomas B Pender said, ''On this date, I issued an initial determination on violation of section 337 in the above referenced investigation. Below are my Initial Determination and the Conclusions of Law from said filing, which are a matter of public record. A complete public version of the Initial Determination will issue when all the parties have submitted their redactions and I have had an opportunity to review the redactions.''

Pender said Samsung did not infringe two Nvidia patents, and while it did infringe a third, he ruled that patent was invalid as it was not a new invention compared with previously known patents.

According to Nvidia spokesman Robert Sherbin, the ruling will be reviewed by the full commission, which will make a final decision on the dispute in February. "We remain confident in our case," he said.

According to Nvidia, it invented the first graphics processing chip and released it in 1999.

Nvidia has accused Korea's Samsung and San Diego-based Qualcomm of using its patents on graphics chip technology without permission or compensation.

Nvidia alleged Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors and Samsung's Exynos processors had infringed its patents and sought to prevent the import of several Samsung products, including its Galaxy smartphones and tablets.