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Singular Computing, founded by Massachusetts-based computer
scientist Joseph Bates, claims Google copied his technology and
used it to support AI features in Google Search, Gmail, Google
Translate and other Google services.
A Google court filing said that Singular has requested up to $7
billion in monetary damages, which would be more than double the
largest-ever patent infringement award in U.S. history.
Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda called Singular's patents
"dubious" and said that Google developed its processors
"independently over many years."
"We look forward to setting the record straight in court,"
Castaneda said.
An attorney for Singular declined to comment on the case.
The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.
Singular's 2019 complaint said Bates shared his
computer-processing innovations with Google between 2010 and
2014. Singular said Google's Tensor Processing Units, which
enhance the tech giant's AI capabilities, copy Bates' technology
and infringe two patents.
The lawsuit said that Google's circuits use an improved
architecture Bates discovered that allows for greater processing
power and has "revolutionized the way AI training and inference
are accomplished."
Google introduced its processing units in 2016 to power AI used
for speech recognition, content generation, ad recommendation
and other functions. Singular said that versions 2 and 3 of the
units, introduced in 2017 and 2018, violate its patent rights.
Google told the court in December that its processors work in
different ways than Singular's patented technology and that the
patents are invalid.
"Google engineers had mixed feelings about the technology and
the company ultimately rejected it, explicitly telling Dr. Bates
that his idea was not right for the type of applications Google
was developing," Google said in a court filing.
A U.S. appeals court in Washington also will hear arguments on
Tuesday about whether to invalidate Singular's patents in a
separate case that Google appealed from the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington and Nate Raymond in
Boston; Editing by David Bario and Bill Berkrot)
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