Some bad and likely very expensive news for NVIDIA. The International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled today that NVIDIA is violating three patents owned by Rambus. The patents relate to memory controller technology that is used in the company's GeForce, Quadro, nForce, Tesla and Tegra products.

A judge with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington said today that Nvidia is violating three patents owned by Rambus. Two other patents are invalid, said Judge Theodore Essex. His decision, which is subject to review by the full commission, may result in a ban on imports of Nvidia chips and products that use them, including some computers made by Hewlett-Packard Co.

Rambus, based in Los Altos, California, has been in litigation for a decade against companies that refused to license its patents. On Jan. 19, Samsung Electronics Co. said it would pay $900 million to end its legal dispute with Rambus and reach a new licensing deal over computer-memory technology.