Hmmm...hebben we dit niet eerder meegemaakt? De concurrentie released een paar kaarten die beter zijn dan die van 3Dfx, dus gooien ze er meteen een rechtszaak tegenaan... Check deze info van GameDaily:
3dfx Interactive earlier this week filed separate patent-infringement lawsuits against nVidia Corp. and Real 3D Inc. The suits both concern what 3dfx claims is infringement over its patent #5,831,624, entitled "Level of Detail Texture Filtering with Dithering and Mipmaps." The patent was filed on April 30, 1996, and granted on November 3, 1998. According to Bruce Busby, 3dfx’s director of intellectual property, the patent enables the dithering between two levels of detail, and gives "the look of trilinear filtering without doing a multitexturing pass."While not able to comment directly on the litigation and 3dfx’s chance of success, Busby indicated that a company legally can’t file such a case without a solid basis for filing, which Busby noted is covered by "Rule 11." Busby continued by stating that there are no planned court dates for the cases at present, but there’s a likelihood that these suits will be joined to the existing suits 3dfx is involved in with Real 3D and nVidia; this suit is filed as a countersuit to Real 3D’s previously filed case.
Michael Howse, 3dfx’s senior vice president of marketing, added that the company has a "duty to fight for intellectual properties." With the number of companies involved in one-upping each other for improving computer graphics, it’s not likely that this will be the last such suit filed over proprietary technology.
