Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg S. who wrote (7497)	9/22/1998 12:19:00 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 16960

Wait a minute...many people seem to think that the patent is on the idea of TMU or multiple TMUs. This is not how I read it. Patents cannot be issued on ideas. By law the ideas are public domain, regardless of how novel they may be. I understand that the software industry, backed by short sighted and over zealous congressmen, has managed to deviate from this. But in the engineering world, the law is still what it was suppose to be. If in fact the design of TNT's TMU is similar to 3Dfx's patent, then the suit holds lots of water. If it is a significantly different implementation of the same concept, then you are right and it is meritless. The only sure outcome of this law suit is that nvid will suffer greatly and perhaps irrecoverably. That's all. Other manufacturers will either develop theirown multiple TMUs, or will license it from 3Dfx to save time and money. Which route they choose depends on how far they are in their development, how similar their design is to 3Dfx's, and how greedy 3Dfx is for licensing fees. 3Dfx (or anyone else for that matter) will not be able to maintain a monopoly on any fundamental building block of the industry. So all the speculation about them being the only game in town due to a TMU patent is misguided. Sun Tzu

To: Greg S. who wrote (7497)	9/22/1998 12:49:00 AM
From: Patrick Grinsell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Greg, I respectfully disagree... (See I'm getting better, right?) The patent is for a specific "method" and "apparatus" for implementing multitexture. Of course they don't own multitexturing, but apparently the multitexturing method used in DX6 is of 3dfx design just like the texture compression is of S3 design. S3 doesn't own texture compression any more than 3dfx owns multitexturing, but if you want to do it their way, you must pay the piper. Pat

To: Greg S. who wrote (7497)	9/22/1998 1:03:00 AM
From: Michael Linov	Respond to of 16960

While I hate frivolous patent lawsuits, it is hard to deny that 3dfx was the first to bring a practical multi-texture solution to the gaming public. If NVIDIA's design is a blatant copy, 3dfx should win. If, on the other hand, the NVIDIA design is based on a completely different architecture, that's another matter. Sadly, these things rarely come down to that... its more about who has the better lawyers :( BTW, Having read the patent, it is seems completely valid, and enforceable. It is patent on a specific implementation (with support for any number of texture units), and should be enforceable.

To: Greg S. who wrote (7497)	9/22/1998 1:36:00 PM
From: Curbstone	Respond to of 16960

RE: the lawsuit Umpires used to say that Catfish Hunter had pinpoint ball control. He would consistently throw the ball over the black plastic borders of home plate. If an umpire would give him a called strike in the black, he would then begin throwing a half an inch further out. If they gave him that he would go another half inch. It is said that Catfish Hunter had the widest strike zone in baseball. I guess my point is, it doesn't have to be an enforceable patent, in fact it doesn't have to have any merit whatsoever. It is simply TDFX's way of saying welcome to my world. It is pinpoint fastball tactics aimed at a player that prefers to throw spitballs. Ballard himself is an avid gamer, this is just one of those shadowy, napalm-like fireballs shrouded in colored fog thrown high and inside, more intended to brush the batter back from crowding the plate rather than do intentional bodily harm. Mike