Case Filed: Dec 17, 2012
Case Closed: Dec 02, 2013
Court: California Northern
District Court
Judge: Jon S. Tigar
Case Summary:
A patent infringement suit was
filed by Fuzzysharp against NVIDIA alleging that they had unauthorizedly used their patents covering computer
graphics. The patents in suit are: US6172679 and US6618047 both entitled
‘Visibility calculations for 3D computer graphics’ issued on Jan 09, 2001 and
expired[i]
on Jun 28, 2011. The patents were last assigned[ii]
to Fuzzysharp (source: MaxVal’s Assignment
Database).
The patented technology describes
a method for efficient determination of visible and/or invisible surfaces to
thereby preferably permit improved hidden surface removal in 3D systems. The complaint
does not specify any products, but however, points out that the defendant
markets graphic processors units (GPU) capable of performing occlusion culling
during the computer graphics rendering process that infringes the methods
claimed in ‘679 and ‘047 patents and that the Nvidia’s actions have been
willful.
Fuzzysharp filed an amended
complaint on May 14, 2013 and the Court dismissed Fuzzysharp’s claims of the
’047 patent with prejudice after considering NVIDIA’s motion to dismiss (in
part) the amended complaint leaving the claims of ‘679 patent. Later, the
parties filed a stipulated motion to dismiss Fuzzysharp’s remaining claim in
this case. Upon consideration, the Court granted the order, thereby ending the
patent litigation.
See 3:12-cv-06375 for
more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation
Alerts.
[i]
Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically
calculates patent
terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.
[ii]
MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service
where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target
applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.
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