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 : Creative Labs (CREAF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brian Lempel who wrote (12316)	9/22/1998 7:08:00 PM
From: BZOOKA	Respond to of 13925

Tuesday September 22 5:29 PM ET 3Dfx legal voodoo means bad mojo for Nvidia, others By Robert Lemos, ZDNet A patent suit filed by 3-D graphics chip maker 3Dfx Interactive Inc. against rival Nvidia Corp. could roil the market, experts said Tuesday. "If the patent holds, then it is disturbing for a lot of companies," said Jon Peddie, president of multimedia technology watcher Jon Peddie Associates in Tiburon, Calif. "It hits right on a component of graphics that is supercritical." That component - a technology called single-pass multi-texturing - lets 3-D game makers create realistic looking fires, lasers and lighting effects. "All of the new greatest games tend to have multi-texturing -- Unreal is one of those," said Steve Schick, a spokesman at 3Dfx Interactive (Nasdaq:TDFX) in San Jose, Calif. "So doing it as efficiently as possible is very important. That's where our technology comes in." Lighting a fire under games By including the feature in its latest 3-D graphics chipset, the Voodoo2, 3Dfx Interactive can handle multi-texturing without breaking stride. That's a big plus for gamers. So it's no surprise that up-and-coming Nvidia followed suit. Its newest product, the Riva TNT, includes single-pass multi-texturing, and for the first time, another company's chips are seriously challenging 3Dfx's elite reputation in the market. Little wonder then that 3Dfx Interactive is striking back. "We see litigation as an unfortunate last resort," said Greg Ballard, the firm's president and CEO, in a statement, "but it is imperative that we protect our technology." Nvidia had not been served with the suit as of Tuesday morning, according to Lou Paceley, vice president of corporate marketing, but the Santa Clara, Calif., company already has an opinion about it. "We believe this to be a nuisance suit," said Paceley. Ripple effects Analysts said Paceley may be wrong. "Multi-texturing is a significant quality enhancement," said Dean McCarron, an analyst at semiconductor watcher Mercury Research Inc. "The reason it hasn't been used in the past is that it is a performance hog, but when it's in hardware like the Voodoo2 or TNT, that's no longer an issue." Furthermore, 3Dfx Interactive has a good chance of successfully defending its turf. "In patent litigation, it never ceases to amaze me how thin the baloney can be sliced -- how thin the newness of the invention can be and still get a patent," said Rich Gray, a partner at the San Jose, Calif. law firm Bergeson, Eliopoulos, Grady & Gray. If the patent holds up, it could put a hex on the industry. A successful suit would mean the entire graphics community could find a significant feature literally owned by one company, said Peddie. "If (the patent) sticks, it's going to make everyone's lives lousy," he said. See Also: Nvidia casts a hex on Voodoo 2 Consortium discusses Web's 3-D future with MS S3 files infringment suit against Nvidia Quicktime goes 3-D

To: Brian Lempel who wrote (12316)	9/22/1998 7:13:00 PM
From: BZOOKA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13925

Brian I tried calling Creaf on the suit anfd the hearing on the 18th but as of yesterday the legal team for Ceaf were not available. I hope Creaf's suit holds .It is kind of strange that both Creaf and Tdfx are doing the same thing !!!! Also Creaf coming out with this new Tdfx vodoo chip with that kind of a price!!! Go Creaf and Tdfx.