Google just settled its multi-billion dollar AI tech patent trial

Date:
Sun, 28 Jan 2024 10:38:03 +0000

Description:
Singular founder showed Google employees his designs under NDA, and then discovered his inventions incorporated into Googles own Tensor Processing
Unit (TPU) devices and data centers.

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The hardware and software development company Singular Computing has received an undisclosed amount from Google in a settlement out of federal court in Massachusetts, bringing to an end the five-year long civil case brought by Singulars founder Dr. Joseph Bates against the tech giant for patent infringement (PDF, hosted by The Register ).

Said infringement pertains to computer architectures facilitating artificial intelligence (AI) tool development and the training of large language models (LLMs) invented by Bates, that he claims made its way into Googles Tensor Processing Unit devices.



These initially powered the generative AI and smart chip features in Google Workspace, but have now gone on to become available for rent via its cloud hosting provider Google Cloud, as well as shoulder the workloads of the tech giants own data centers. The facts were these

Of course, an out-of-court settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing in itself, precisely because such settlements are a means for both parties to avoid trial and, therefore, a ruling in either partys favor. Google hasnt
made any statement to suggest wrongdoing on its part, so we know about as
much as you.

Still, its clear Singular Computing has the advantage. As per the filing, Bates pray[ed] for the court to allow a jury trial and award damages that
were suggested in pre-trial filings (another Reg-hosted PDF, cheers mate) to be within the realm of $1.6 billion and $5.19 billion US dollars. That, ladies, gentlemen, and the self-described, is confidence, and it seems to
have paid (!!) off.

From the cases outset, Google denied knowledge of Bates three relevant US patents ( 8407273B2 , 9218156B2 and 10416961B2 ) and the technology therein, which allows for many low-precision calculations per processor cycle, and look[ed] forward to setting the record straight in court.

Even now, Google spokesperson Jos Castaeda is tight-lipped, merely saying We have always taken our disclosure obligations seriously and we will continue
to do so. Thats a very well crafted sentence designed to mean whatever you, the reader, wants it to, so well leave that.

Less cryptic, however, is one comment made by senior Google scientist Jeff Dean, who, in an internal e-mail brought to light by Singulars complaint, wrote to colleagues that Bates inventions were really well suited for Googles workloads. This, while definitely rum, to use the precise legal term, is
still no admission: Google continued, and likely continues to maintain that no-one actually working on its TPUs had access to Bates designs.

Representatives for Singular have made no comment following the settlement. which truncated a trial expected to last weeks with prejudice, meaning that its extremely unlikely that the case can be filed again by either party for the foreseeable future. More from TechRadar Pro These are the best cloud hosting providers around Google Cloud is ending data transfer fees for good Google Cloud says it has fixed a significant security flaw



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/google-just-settled-its-multi-billion-dollar-ai- tech-patent-trial


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