Nvidia and Samsung settle mutual lawsuits over patents

Nvidia and Samsung have reached a settlement in their mutual patent lawsuits. The companies are going to license a number of patents to each other. The settlement removes a possible ban on sales of Nvidia products in the US.

Nvidia reports in a short announcement that all current matters between the video card manufacturer and Samsung will be filed. The two companies have reached a settlement, but it is not a major cross-licensing agreement or other compensation, Nvidia emphasizes. Exact details about the settlement have not been disclosed.

According to Bloomberg, the settlement came out hours before the US Trade Commission was due to rule in Samsung’s case against Nvidia. Samsung wanted to enforce a ban on the sale of a number of Nvidia products, because the South Korean company claims that its patents are being used. This would mainly concern the Nvidia Shield tablet.

Samsung filed that lawsuit in November 2014 as a response to a lawsuit filed by Nvidia earlier in September of that year against Samsung and Qualcomm over the use of GPU patents.

In December 2015, the US International Trade Commission ruled against Nvidia. In doing so, the committee confirmed an earlier ruling by a judge who said that Samsung and Qualcomm do not infringe on Nvidia patents.

In the same month, another judge ruled that Nvidia did infringe on Samsung’s patents. It was still waiting for the ruling of the USITC, which could force the sale of Nvidia products. Due to the settlement, this ruling will no longer be forthcoming.