Samsung has turned to the U.S. International Trade Commission and filed a complaint against Nvidia, asking the agency to block the computer-graphics chips that are made by the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.
The South Korean company accused Nvidia of patent infringement on several of its chips and for making false claims against its products. The complaint is a counter-attack on Nvidia when it filed an infringement complaint against Samsung back in September.
Nvidia accused Samsung and its rival Qualcomm of patent infringement on its graphics-processing unit (GPU). While the company hasn't studied the counter-complaint in its entirety, it is determined to pursue its own ITC dispute. Nvidia was asking the agency to block imports of the latest Galaxy devices, such as tablets and smartphones, that use Samsung's Exynos processors or the Snapdragon graphics processing units of Qualcomm.
Samsung retaliated and filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court. The Galaxy maker is seeking damages for Nvidia's deliberate infringement of a number of its technical patents, which include some of those that govern the way semiconductors use and buffer information. Samsung is asking the ITC to block imports of Nvidia's Tegra mobile processors and GeForce graphics chips.
The dispute also names some third-party device makers that Samsung had wanted to stop selling their hardware in the U.S. Most of them are designers of video cards, such as Biostar Microtech International Corp and EVGA Corporation. Likewise, the scope of the dispute would also cover Tegra-based gadgets, such as the mini console of OUYA and the gaming tablet known as Wikipad. Another computer-parts manufacturer that was named in the dispute is Elitegroup Computer Systems Co.
The complaint filed by Samsung is seeking to ban the sale of Nvidia's GPUs in the U.S, which is ronically Nvidia's headquarters. While most of Nvidia's GPUs are used in PCs as compared to phones or tablets, they are also used in devices such as Shield Portable Android devices, Nvidia's Shield Tablet and HTC's Nexus 9.
The two manufacturers have, of course, denied infringing the other's technologies. Nvidia is pursuing its claim against the South Korean company. Samsung seemed unfazed and even filed a counter complaint. In a statement made by Nvidia, it has called Samsung's lawsuit "a predictable tactic."
"We have not seen the complaint so can't comment, but we look forward to pursuing our earlier filed ITC action against Samsung products," said Hector Marinez, spokesman for Nvidia, in an email.
