In a new Western District of Texas complaint, Neural AI, LLC has accused NVIDIA (7:24-cv-00221) of infringing three patents moved to the plaintiff from Neurala this past July. Targeted is the provision of "products that provide and implement GPU-acceleration hardware, software, platforms, and services", including NVIDIA's GPU accelerators (with its "Hopper", "Ada Lovelace", "Ampere", "Turing", "Volta", "Pascal", and "Maxwell" GPU architectures) and its "superchips". Neural AI describes the asserted patents as generally related to "the accelerated execution of numerical simulations and neural networks such that the intermediate outputs of a given execution 'step' can be dynamically transferred from the GPU to the CPU, reviewed, and corrected within the same computational cycle before being fed as inputs to the next execution step".
Neurala, "a pioneer in AI-powered quality inspection software", assigned a family of four patents, including the three now asserted against NVIDIA (8,648,867; RE48,438; RE49,461), to Neural AI, an entity created in Texas on July 11, 2024. The issue dates for the family range from February 2014 through March 2023. The family has an earliest estimated priority date in September 2006 based on the filing of a provisional application. Neurala (as Neurala, LLC but later, in 2013, shifting form to Neurala, Inc.) was formed in Delaware in January 2006.
The plaintiff pleads that NVIDIA "has been aware of the technology patented by [the patents-in-suit] since at least 2007, when the inventors of the Asserted Patents first discussed their patented technologies with Mr. Sanford Russell, then the CTO of Nvidia". NVIDIA purportedly declined an invitation from the named inventors—Heather M. Ames, Anatoli Gorchetchnikov, Fabrizio Santini, and Massimiliano Versace—"to collaborate with them on training neural networks using Nvidia's GPUs". Neural AI also points to NVIDIA's citation of the application that led to the '867 patent "in its own patent portfolio since at least June 28, 2010".
The interactions between Neurala and NVIDIA alleged in the new complaint did not end there:
Starting in or around 2016, the inventors of the Asserted Patents held multiple discussions with Nvidia to invest in or purchase their AI company, Neurala, Inc., and all its assets, including the '438 Patent family. These discussions included at least Mr. Alvin Lin, an Nvidia Senior Director of Business Development, and Mr. Jeff Herbst, then an Nvidia Vice President of Business Development and head of Nvidia's Inception GPU Ventures, in or around September 6, 2016. In or around October 2016, Nvidia, through its representatives, initiated discussions with the inventors to invest in Neurala, Inc. for approximately $10 million.
The inventors also discussed their patented technology, including the underlying technology and family to the '438 Patent (including U.S. Patent No. 9,189,828, the patent the '438 Patent reissued from), with Defendant's representatives at Nvidia's artificial intelligence conference in or around June 2017. On or about June 26, 2017, Defendant received materials from the inventors, in lieu of a meeting on or about June 29, that identified patents related to the '438 Patent and described the technology in detail. Defendant had previously stated it was interested in the inventors' solutions. Defendant also featured the inventors on its website as members of Defendant's start-up incubator on or about September 25, 2019.
Versace (current CEO), Ames (current COO), and Gorchetchnikov (current CTO, listed on the company's website as "Anatoli Gorchet") are identified as Neurala's cofounders. Santini is a lecturer on AI at Tufts University, identifying himself on social media as having been an "Associate Director" with Scientific Systems since June 2023; he characterizes his time with Neurala, from October 2005 through August 2006 as "Lead Software Engineer (consulting)".
At its formation in Texas, Jeremy Pitcock was identified as Neural AI's manager. On social media, Pitcock identifies himself as having served as a manager with litigating NPE G+ Communications LLC since August 2020 and as "Founder" with The Pitcock Law Group since March 2008. In a quick amendment, also filed in July 2024, however, Britton Monts replaced Pitcock as Neural AI's manager. Monts, describing himself on social media as a "[t]rial lawyer for over thirty years" with "extensive experience in multiple areas of law, including complex business litigation, class actions, consumer law, landlord/tenant litigation, oil and gas litigation, death and catastrophic injury litigation, and employment law", reports a position as "[o]wner" with Texas-based law firm The Monts Firm (since January 2008).
A corporate disclosure for Neural AI has yet to be docketed in connection with the case against NVIDIA, which has not been assigned to a judge. King & Spalding LLP and Cherry Johnson Siegmund James PLLC provide representation. 9/13, Western District of Texas.
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