itc

Patent Office rejects Rambus claims against Nvidia

According to Nvidia on Tuesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has initially rejected an additional eight Rambus claims that Nvidia challenged.

The additional eight claims are based on two patents that Rambus has asserted against Nvidia in litigation. This follows the USPTO's rejection last month of 41 other claims in seven patents that Rambus had asserted, Nvidia said.

Rambus filed patent claims against Nvidia in an International Trade Commission action in November. The ITC litigation involves memory controllers--which handle communications between memory chips and other silicon--related to graphics processors.

"We are pleased that the USPTO decided … Read more

Rambus drops some patent claims against Nvidia

Rambus has asked the International Trade Commission to terminate an investigation of Nvidia relating to four patents as part of a November 2008 complaint.

Rambus provides high-speed memory interface technology, though in recent years the company has become better-known for intellectual property litigation practices. Rambus has sued many of the world's largest chip manufacturers.

The Los Altos, Calif.-based company conceded before the ITC that Nvidia products do not infringe on its four patents, and also asked for termination of several claims from a fifth patent in the ITC action, according to an Nvidia statement.

"We are pleased … Read more

Grace Wireless Internet Radio updated, now with Pandora

When we reviewed the Grace ITC-IR1000B Wireless Internet Radio back in March, we gave it a mostly positive review, but a couple annoying quirks and a general lack of connectivity kept us from a stronger recommendation. Since that time, Grace has released a firmware update that fixed most of the software bugs we complained about, and the company added the ability to access the Pandora streaming audio service. Since these changes added a good deal of functionality to the radio--and it's still one of the most affordable Wi-Fi radios on the market--we decided to take a second look at it.… Read more

ITC One: Home entertainment heaven in one compact case

True audio and videophiles beware. The ITC One home theater system--which lets you pack multiple gadgets into one sleek little 2-foot box--started shipping last week. And it's gonna cost you. Twenty-five thousand to be exact.

CNET News.com attended a demonstration of the product in San Francisco this week. And from what we saw, the ITC One delivered in appearance and ease.

How did SE2 Labs accomplish that feat? Strip down every product to its circuit board, integrate those boards into one unit, and then have one remote to control them all. Or use the nifty touch screen, whichever … Read more

Is anyone doing any business in renewable energy?

Okay, that's kind of a specious lead in, but seriously, both the investment tax credit (ITC) for solar and the production tax credit (PTC) for wind are up for expiration in barely 6 months in the US. And that seems to be much higher on industry workers minds than actually doing business.

I have had conversation after conversation over the past weeks indicating that the policy renewal is increasingly the biggest topic of concern.

M&A deals are getting held up waiting to see the impact on valuations

Sales teams have added the "fear factor" of … Read more

$25,000 uber-box gets Blu-ray

When SE2 Labs debuted its "ITC One" media system late last year, one of the complaints was that it lacked a Blu-ray player. That might seem picky at first blush, until one surveys the laundry list of functions this uber-box already provides: an Xbox 360, HD personal video recorder, digital amplifiers, surround-sound processor, touch screen, and iPod dock, to name a few.

If they're going to jam all that into a home entertainment system that's "roughly the size of two PC consoles," the thinking goes, then it doesn't seem altogether unreasonable to expect … Read more

Redefining the meaning of all-in-one

In an ideal world, there should be a wonder box that does everything under the sun. Perhaps something like Doraemon; a Japanese anime robot cat and his magical pocket with its endless supply of gadgets and tools. That may be light years away but, in the meantime, SE2 Labs has an entertainment super-machine that looks like a mini-computer server.

Dubbed ITC One, it packs an Xbox 360, HD personal video recorder, surround-sound processor, digital audio amplifier, 4.3-inch touchscreen, iPod dock, and remote control system all in a single box, according to Chip Chick. Pricing-wise, you will need to fork … Read more

Qualcomm's head lawyer resigns

Qualcomm said Monday that its top lawyer is leaving the company.

Lou Lupin, who has served as Qualcomm's executive vice president and general counsel since 2000, is stepping down from his post, the company said. The company didn't provide any details about why Lupin is leaving. But his departure comes just a week after the company was dealt another legal blow in its ongoing battle with Broadcom.

Last week, the Bush administration declined to step in to veto a ban imposed by the Federal Trade Commission on importing cell phones using Qualcomm chips that have been found to … Read more

No relief for Qualcomm from Bush administration

The Bush administration has dealt another blow to chipmaker Qualcomm in its battle to dodge an International Trade Commission's ban on the importation of its advanced cell phone chips into the U.S.

On Monday, the Bush administration ruled it would not intervene and veto the ITC's decision, which was handed down in June. The ITC banned the importation of all cell phones using 3G chipsets from Qualcomm, because Qualcomm was found to have infringed on patents held by rival Broadcom.

The ban still hasn't gone into effect, but it looks like Qualcomm is running out of … Read more