What just happened? It seems Nvidia may soon find itself embroiled in a legal dispute with Xperi (formerly Tessera), as they assert Nvidia is infringing upon five different patents. Xperi licenses intellectual property to several heavyweight chip makers and have won legal disputes over patents against giants Samsung and Broadcom in the past, so Nvidia may very well have a hard time arguing against this claim.
Subsidiaries of Xperi Corp, Invensas Corporation and Tessera Advanced Technologies, have filed suit against Nvidia, alleging the infringement of five patents. Xperi and its subsidiaries believe Nvidia's GPUs and supercomputers leverage technology pursuant to its semiconductor design patents.
Xperi and its subsidiaries create intellectual property and technology, then license it. Invensas creates packaging and interconnect technology for semiconductors, while Xperi controls a range of technologies for audio, image codecs, automotive, and more. Some of its clients include Sony, LG, and Samsung.
As it pertains to its suit with Nvidia, the company filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court of Delaware for the violation of Patent Nos. 5,666,046; 6,232,231; 6,317,333; 6,849,946; and 7,064,005.
It's worth noting that Xperi has defended these patents before: once in a case against Samsung, and another involving Broadcom. Xperi won on both accounts, settling out of court for an undisclosed sum and entering into multi-year patent license agreements.
It would seem that the patents in question have already undergone stringent legal tests, and Nvidia may have a hard time discrediting them.