Velocity Micro Caught In Patent Crossfire Between Nvidia And Samsung

Nvidia channel partner Velocity Micro is crying foul, calling itself a pawn in a bruising battle between Samsung and Nvidia over alleged patent infringements.

Samsung last month named Richmond, Va.-based Velocity Micro and Nvidia in a patent suit in a move that the boutique high-performance computer maker's CEO sees as throwing the small company "under the bus."

"Samsung has decided to drag us into its legal battle with Nvidia. ... It’s simply wrong, and a shining example of what’s broken in big corporate America," said Randy Copeland, CEO of Velocity Micro, responding to the lawsuit in a company blog post.

The legal action is the latest in a patent battle between Nvidia and Samsung that began earlier this year. In September, Nvidia filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Delaware and filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The lawsuit and complaint sought to block shipments of Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets powered by GPUs from Qualcomm, alleging Samsung was in violation of seven Nvidia GPU technology patents.

[Related: IBM, Nvidia Partner On GPU-Powered Supercomputers]

In early November Samsung ratcheted up the patent clash in a lawsuit against Nvidia in the Federal District Court for Virginia’s Eastern District in Richmond. Samsung is claiming violation of eight of its patents and claims Nvidia engaged in false advertising when it said its Nvidia Shield Tablet was the "world's fastest mobile processor."

Nvidia declined to comment for this story. Samsung didn't return requests for comment.

Velocity Micro's desktops and laptops use the Nvidia GPUs. Copeland said Velocity Micro is being unfairly singled out by Samsung because it's geographically located in a court system known for its speed at bringing cases before a judge. No other Nvidia partner that uses the Nvidia technology in question has been named in the lawsuit.

"Samsung has decided to drag us into its legal battle with Nvidia purely for the purpose of claiming that the Federal District Court for Virginia’s Eastern District here in Richmond, also informally known as 'the rocket docket' by some, is a reasonable jurisdiction for their litigation," Copeland said.

Copeland claims Samsung tactically needs Velocity Micro to be part of its lawsuit so it can have a faster time to trial to counter Nvidia's lawsuit. "They are trying to beat Nvidia to the punch on other fronts, but they are all too willing to throw a private company under the proverbial bus for their own strategic reasons," Copeland said.

Copeland told CRN in a phone interview that Samsung's legal maneuvering for courtroom advantage seems to ignore the real-world impact the billion-dollar brouhaha is having on his small Virginia company. "It's not like we have billions of dollars in cash like Nvidia and Samsung do sitting around," Copeland said.

"It's not going to be a critical blow. But it's going to impact the lives of everyone that works at Velocity Micro," Copeland said. "For the next year, a lot of my time is going to be spent with lawyers and in court if we go to trial, which is going to take away from Velocity Micro."

PUBLISHED DEC. 1, 2014