At the centre of the lawsuit is a relatively new bus technology called QuickPath Interconnect,? ?or QPI.?
Intel's Nehalem-based processors are integrated with the QPI technology,? ?and for other companies to use this they will,? ?naturally,? ?need to obtain a licensing deal.?
Intel claimed Nvidia did not have a licensing deal for its technology,? ?while Nvidia responded by claiming it had already been granted the rights to use Intel’s bus technology?; ?obtained from a licensing pact made over four years ago.?
Intel responded in turn by claiming that Nvidia’s old licensing agreement does not cover new bus technology such as QPI.? ?The firm has now filed a motion in a Delaware court to get a Judge to settle the matter.?
“Intel has filed suit against Nvidia seeking a declaratory judgment over rights associated with two agreements between the companies.? ?The suit seeks to have the court declare that Nvidia is not licensed to produce chipsets that are compatible with any Intel processor that has integrated memory controller functionality,? ?such as Intel’s Nehalem microprocessors,?” ?read an Intel statement.
The group accuses Nvidia of having? “?breached the agreement with Intel by falsely claiming that it is licensed.?”
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang delivered a response,? ?claiming he is? “?confident that our license,? ?as negotiated,? ?applies.?”
Huang claimed that there was more to the court proceedings than an issue of licensing agreements:? “?At the heart of this issue is that the CPU has run its course and the soul of the PC is shifting quickly to the GPU.? ?This is clearly an attempt to stifle innovation to protect a decaying CPU business.?”
The dispute continues.