AMD May Engage in Nvidia - Samsung - Qualcomm Patent War

Just a couple of months ago Nvidia began a very aggressive legal campaign confronting Samsung and Qualcomm in which the company has declared that both mobile giants are infringing on several of its fundamental graphics intellectual property. This of course has resulted in the well armed legal team of the Korean giant to burn dorsum. And now Samsung in a very ambitious move began legal action of its own to ban Nvidia products in the The states.

Nvidia isn't the get-go or the last to try and undercut the competition based on patent infringement laws. We've seen many patent wars go off in the terminal few years especially in the highly volatile mobile market. Apple tree and Samsung are both still going at it and now Nvidia has joined the battlefront as well. So it didn't come up as a daze to us to hear that AMD has been very advisedly watching this unfold and calculating its next move.

AMD May Engage in The Graphics Patent War with Nvidia, Samsung and Qualcomm

During the Raymond James' Systems, Semiconductors, Software & Supply Concatenation Conference on Dec 8th. AMD's Chief Financial Officer Devinder Kumar revealed that AMD has in fact considered legal activity.

Hans Mosesmann - Raymond James
I think investors are interested in seeing how this plays out with Nvidia as part of their lawsuit against the Samsung and Qualcomm regarding fundamental Graphics IP, now AMD obviously has likewise a very deep portfolio of Graphics IP. Has management considered a strategy to monetize that similar Nvidia is doing, and what would you lot need to practise this and starting time that attempt?

Devinder Kumar - SVP and CFO
Yeah. We have considered that and nosotros will explore possibilities in that area equally nosotros move forrad.

The company's CFO has also stated that they volition go on to explore the possibilities for monetizing the visitor'south graphics intellectual property in the future. This typically involves licensing technology to a 3rd party or a partner company. We see this occurring in some fashion already through AMD'southward semi-custom business unit of measurement. By which the company offers its clients the ability to embed specific AMD IP such as graphics into a item production that the customer desires.

Monetizing IP can also involve legal action to demand licensing fees for the unwarranted use of the company's intellectual property by others. Devinder did not notwithstanding specify in anyway whom exactly the visitor would target if it e'er initiates a lawsuit of its own. We know that Nvidia had attempted to monetize its graphics IP in the mobile marketplace by offering paid graphics IP licenses to companies in that space. Nevertheless when that failed to go traction we saw Nvidia take legal activeness in an aggressive move to monetize that IP in mobility.

AMD has gone through very hard legal battles with their much larger rival earlier. Corporate legal battles tin can span several decades and sometimes pose an insurmountable financial burden. AMD is past no ways a small company nor is Nvidia but put against industry giants such equally Samsung, Qualcomm and even Intel, both companies may very volition appear pocket-sized.

AMD has famously engaged in many legal battles with its much larger rival, Intel, and has often won. Although the legal battles more often than not entailed AMD fighting its larger rival over monopolistic or anti-competitive practices rather than IP. Which is partially thanks to the cantankerous-licensing understanding which saved both a whole lot of trouble. Making a patent war somewhat of unexplored territory for AMD.

Fifty-fifty though I don't particularly appreciate patent wars, in some cases the impetus for legal action is very legitimate. As consumers all we can do is watch this unfold and promise that it doesn't dissolve into a financial sinkhole that only serves to slow downwards the progress of the industry.