[highlight]GPH IS NOT PART OF RACKABLE/SGI.
They are some 2-bit company who purchased some of the old SGI's liquidated assets, some of which being various patents.[/highlight]
[quote]Graphics Properties Holdings (GPH) has made a name for itself to monetize about 300 former SGI patents. LG, RIM and HTC hunted as well.
Following the sale of SGI's assets in 2009, GPH is the legal successor of SGI, at least as far as its IP is concerned. In the latest wave of patent suits, GPH is suing Sony, LG, Samsung, HTC, RIM an Apple over an alleged violation of U.S. patent 8,144,158 entitled “Display System Having Floating Point Rasterization and Floating Point Framebuffering.”
The patent covers a geometry processor, a rasterizer compatible with floating point data, as well as a frame buffer connected to the rasterizer that is able to store color values in floating point format. GPH claims that consumer electronics devices offered by the lawsuit targets are violating the patent and are subject to licensing fees. In Apple's case, GPH says that the company's "handheld computers, tablets, cellular telephones, and other consumer electronics and display devices and products containing the same, including Defendant’s iPhone device and other substantially similar devices" are infringing the patent.
This particular patent cannot be traced back to SGI origins as it was filed only on January 11, 2011. There is not history of this patent available in the USPTO database yet. However, GPH did not waste any time launching the lawsuit; the USPTO granted the rights to it on March 27, 2012. [/quote]
[url=http://www.tomshardware.com/news/SGI-apple-graphics-lawsuit-rendering,15142.html]**THIS SMELLS LIKE SHIT**[/url]
[del]This better not be the doing of Mr. Verdoorn who is CEO at SGI right now. Last thing I want SGI to become is a patent leech like Rambus.[/del]
I gotta say, the first thing that came to my mind when I read "SGI" in the title was the thought of a good MIPS post somewhere in here.
But now I see MIPS is the OP.
[quote]a rasterizer compatible with floating point data[/quote]
if i'm not mistaken, that's a pretty important thing.
[QUOTE=thisispain;35336609]if i'm not mistaken, that's a pretty important thing.[/QUOTE]
its important enough that with this patent they could possibly sue any company that makes monitors or GPUs
Um.
Yikes.
[QUOTE=viperfan7;35336637]its important enough that with this patent they could possibly sue any company that makes monitors or GPUs[/QUOTE]
Which is batshit insane and retarded. It took them the, what, 30 years of people making GPUs and monitors for them to finally speak up? Obviously only in it for money, and they deliberately waited.
I think its at the point where it'll be thrown out and their rights to it revoked
I hate that the sale of patents is possible, it makes no sense to me. There are entire companies built upon the aquisition of patents, who then use them to sue companies for a quick buck.
[QUOTE=SilentOpp;35337449]I hate that the sale of patents is possible, it makes no sense to me. There are entire companies built upon the aquisition of patents, who then use them to sue companies for a quick buck.[/QUOTE]
When Rackable purchased the old SGI, they also bought all their technology and unliquidated assets including patents belonging to SGI and Cray.
$25 million gave them to the most advanced technology on the planet.
To put this in perspective just how cheap that was, Oracle bought Sun Microsystems for $400 million.
[del]The most basic and sometime the oldest patents are normally the most disputed. I'm sure IBM has a lot of patenting issues but you don't see them bitching much.[/del]
[QUOTE=thisispain;35336609]if i'm not mistaken, that's a pretty important thing.[/QUOTE]
Quite important, the majority of games these days use floating point framebuffers for things like HDR lighting.
With this patent they could sue every graphics card maker and every game developer.
Even the hardware providers get in trouble!
as much as i love to see apple get fucked around every corner, this is fag shit right here
patents like this are god damned retarded and just impede progress
[b]SO IT TURNS OUT THAT GPH IS NOT PART OF RACKABLE/SGI.[/b]
They are some 2-bit company who purchased some of the old SGI's liquidated assets, some of which being various patents.
This truly is just some dicks trying to make a quick buck.
[QUOTE=MIPS;35339997][b]SO IT TURNS OUT THAT GPH IS NOT PART OF RACKABLE/SGI.[/b] They are some 2-bit company who purchased some of the old SGI's liquidated assets, some of which being various patents. This truly is just some dicks trying to make a quick buck.[/QUOTE]
Oh, but its against apple so there is nothing wrong with it.
[QUOTE=inconspicious;35340895]Oh, but its against apple so there is nothing wrong with it.[/QUOTE]
uh just because it's against a company that does trivial patent suits doesn't make it ok, this sort of thing shouldn't be permitted, even if it is Apple being sued.
And they are suing other companies too, making it even more not ok.
[QUOTE=inconspicious;35340895]Oh, but its against apple so there is nothing wrong with it.[/QUOTE]Would you be happy if someone blew up Apple's HQ too?
Sure, thousands of people would die, but it's Apple, so there's nothing wrong with it!
[QUOTE=Ezhik;35342690]Would you be happy if someone blew up Apple's HQ too?
Sure, thousands of people would die, but it's Apple, so there's nothing wrong with it![/QUOTE]
That would be absolutely wonderful!
Wow.....and I thought Apple was known for low blows. This is something else entirely.
Seriously, why does the patent system still exist as it is?
[QUOTE=Solo Wing;35345025]Wow.....and I thought Apple was known for low blows. This is something else entirely. Seriously, why does the patent system still exist as it is?[/QUOTE]
because $$$
This is what happens when people let companies file incredibly broad patents. I mean seriously, a fucking rasterizer compatible with floating point data? Fucking hell.
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