Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Way back in December of 2006, NVIDIA and AMD were both pegged for potential price fixing, and nearly two years later it seems it’ll finally be paying the piper. A settlement agreement is detailed in a recently filed 8-K form, which asserts that NVIDIA would pay $850,000 into a total fund of up to $1.7 million, with AMD / ATI probably left to make up the rest. Of note, the 8-K filing does mention that all of this is still “subject to court approval,” but it’s likely that the green light will eventually be given. Outside of that, we’re also informed that NVIDIA will be handing over $112,500 to the individual plaintiffs who brought the case to court. Well, we’re glad that’s settled.

[Via CustomPC]

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Filed under: Gaming

A select bunch of Transmeta investors may not completely agree with how the outfit is being managed, but one thing’s for sure: it’s bringing in some serious coin on this deal. During a brief timeout from counting those stacks of Benjamins handed over by Intel, it decided to license its Long Run and LongRun 2 technologies (among “other intellectual property”) to NVIDIA for a cool $25 million. Additionally, the agreement grants NVIDIA a “non-exclusive and fully paid-up license” to all of Transmeta’s patents and patent applications. Unfortunately, it’s still unclear how exactly this will end up affecting NVIDIA fanboys (and girls), but we’ll go out on a limb and suggest that a mobile GTX 280 with a remarkably low power draw is just around the bend.

[Via SlashGear]

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Filed under: Cellphones

One of the longest-running — and certainly most fascinating — soap operas in the entire wireless world, the seemingly endless patent drama between Nokia and Qualcomm, has finally drawn to an amicable (dare we say anti-climactic) close. After just a single day of arbitration, the two firms have basically agreed to a patent swap, allowing Nokia to use all of Qualcomm’s patents and vice versa. Furthermore, Nokia is just stone-cold handing over a bunch of patents it holds related to GSM, WCDMA, and OFDMA, which presumably means companies that are currently licensing those patents can get ready to start writing those checks to Qualcomm. What’s more, Espoo’s dropping its anti-competition claims against Qualcomm in Europe — but beyond that, specific terms (read: cash money) weren’t disclosed beyond the typical PR pleasantries that both sides are happy with the outcome. If this means we finally have to retire our Nokia-Qualcomm starburst graphic, we’re going to pout like little children, so we can only hope these two lovebirds find something else to squabble over in the not-too-distant future.

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Filed under: Cellphones

One of the longest-running — and certainly most fascinating — soap operas in the entire wireless world, the seemingly endless patent drama between Nokia and Qualcomm, has finally drawn to an amicable (dare we say anti-climactic) close. After just a single day of arbitration, the two firms have basically agreed to a patent swap, allowing Nokia to use all of Qualcomm’s patents and vice versa. Furthermore, Nokia is just stone-cold handing over a bunch of patents it holds related to GSM, WCDMA, and OFDMA, which presumably means companies that are currently licensing those patents can get ready to start writing those checks to Qualcomm. What’s more, Espoo’s dropping its anti-competition claims against Qualcomm in Europe — but beyond that, specific terms (read: cash money) weren’t disclosed beyond the typical PR pleasantries that both sides are happy with the outcome. If this means we finally have to retire our Nokia-Qualcomm starburst graphic, we’re going to pout like little children, so we can only hope these two lovebirds find something else to squabble over in the not-too-distant future.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

In an extremely brief statement, Acer says to have “settled all ongoing patent litigation with HP.” The confidential settlement wraps up months of legal wrangling that kicked off in March of 2007 when HP accused Acer of infringing upon 5 HP patents related to “DVD editing, processing ability, and power consumption and efficiency.” Acer then countersued, and so on. While it’s unclear if any fault was admitted, we’re certain that a handful of patent lawyers from both sides are sipping at their 60-year old Macallan in a fit of haughty disdain for corporate executives at this very moment.

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Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio

Owners of yesteryear Apple products (and consumer advocates) had a pretty solid week. Friday it came to light that more than two million 2001-era PowerBook owners could be eligible for refunds between $25 and $75 in a class-action settlement (which is set for final approval on September 8th) over faulty, sometimes even sparking power adapters. But that’s not all: Apple is also offering up $45 credits to any Canadian iPod owner that bought before June 24th, 2004 as part of a class-action suit claiming Apple misrepresented the advertised battery life of the players.

Read - Power adapters
Read - Canadian iPods [sub req’d]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Although the press release issued to announce the settlement between Vonage and AT&T earlier this month is still the shortest we’ve seen in all of 2007, we’re pretty certain the one doled out to trumpet the truce between Vonage and Nortel is holding down the two-spot. In just five wee sentences, we learn that the two have agreed in principle to end the litigation pending between ‘em, and though no cash will be changing hands, the agreement does involve a limited cross license to three patents per firm. Way to put the past behind before entering into the new year, we say.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

In possibly the shortest press release of the year, Vonage announced that they’ve settled — as expected — with AT&T over their ongoing patent dispute. No details were given, but their dime stock lifted 12%, so maybe someone on Wall St. knows something we don’t about whether it was AT&T or Vonage that got the raw deal.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

While there was once talk of just selling Sprint the keys to the (crumbling) Vonage offices, it’s pretty safe to say that those plans are no longer in the cards. Apparently, Vonage Holdings Corp. “was ordered in federal court to pay $69.5 million in damages for infringing on six telecommunications patents owned by competitor Sprint-Nextel,” and if that wasn’t punishment enough, “jurors ordered Vonage to pay a five-percent royalty on future revenues.” If you’ll recall, this isn’t the first time Vonage has had to cough up major quantities of dough after being sued for patent infringement, and although a spokesman for the firm “declined comment,” the company has already announced that it will “seek to overturn” the verdict.

Read - Vonage to pay Sprint $69.5 million
Read - Vonage to Appeal Court Decision in Sprint Patent Suit

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