ParTec accused NVIDIA and Microsoft of violating patents on AI supercomputers

The German developer and integrator of HPC solutions ParTec filed a lawsuit against NVIDIA, accusing the latter of patent infringement. According to The Register, the company is demanding a ban on sales of NVIDIA accelerators in 18 countries participating in the EU’s common patent system.

ParTec, which is involved in the creation of Europe’s first exascale machine JUPITER and other supercomputers such as MareNostrum5, confirmed that the subject of the dispute is the same patents for which Partec has already filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in the US. However, it is possible that ParTec intends to seek not a ban on sales, but the signing of a licensing agreement with NVIDIA – otherwise blocking the sale of NVIDIA accelerators in Europe could affect the implementation of projects with the participation of ParTec itself.

Both lawsuits involve patents related to dynamic modular system architecture (dMSA). It is this that is of utmost importance for the construction of high-performance computing clusters and ensures optimal interaction between the CPU, GPU and other electronics as part of systems used both for training AI models and for inference. Previously, ParTec reported that Microsoft illegally used this particular intellectual property when creating the Azure AI cloud platform.

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The lawsuit against NVIDIA ParTec and its license agent BF exaQC AG was filed with the Unified Patent Court of the European Union on October 27. ParTec intends to seek a ban on NVIDIA from distributing its accelerators in EU countries where patents apply, as well as damages. According to available data, we are talking about patents EP2628080 and EP3743812, and the latter is valid in all EU countries that are part of the Unified Patent System. We are talking about 18 countries, including Germany, France and Italy. If the plaintiffs win the lawsuit, the sale of a number of NVIDIA products in these countries will be prohibited.

The company claims that it has long foreseen the prospects for software for scaling computing, which is why it began developing dMSA. The company also claims to have been in talks with NVIDIA, showcasing its modular architecture, ParaStation software and key patents. NVIDIA allegedly showed great interest in the technology and even announced its readiness to develop supercomputers using ParaStation, but subsequently these plans were never implemented. Now the companies are collaborating one way or another on the creation of other supercomputers, where NVIDIA is the “preferred supplier” of accelerators for the data center.

ParTec said the lawsuit was inevitable because NVIDIA refused to negotiate on the supply of accelerators. The latter allegedly did this because of ParTec’s lawsuit against Microsoft, one of NVIDIA’s key clients. ParTec emphasizes that thanks to its technologies, Germany and Europe as a whole will have the opportunity to develop their own “sovereign industry.” However, the world today depends on patent infringers, i.e. NVIDIA and Microsoft, distributing solutions that pose a threat to Germany and the European IT industry, says ParTec.