Boston, January 5, 2024 - Alphabet's Google is currently under scrutiny in a federal jury trial in Boston, defending itself against allegations of patent infringement by computer scientist Joseph Bates's company, Singular Computing. The lawsuit demands $1.67 billion in damages, claiming that Google utilized Bates's patented technology without proper licensing for the processors driving artificial intelligence (AI) in various Google products.
Joseph Bates, the founder of Singular Computing, asserts that Google copied his innovations after a series of meetings between 2010 and 2014, during which he shared his computer-processing ideas aimed at solving a crucial problem in AI development. Kerry Timbers, Singular Computing's lawyer, argued that Google, without Bates's knowledge, incorporated his patented technology into its Tensor Processing Units, essential for AI features in Google Search, Gmail, Google Translate, and other services.
Citing internal emails, Timbers highlighted Google's Chief Scientist, Jeff Dean, expressing how Bates's ideas were "really well suited" for their developments. Another employee acknowledged being "quite corrupted by Joe's ideas." Timbers emphasized the case as a matter of basic respect and the importance of not appropriating others' innovations.
In response, Google's lawyer, Robert Van Nest, contended that Bates had never met the Google employees who designed the chips, emphasizing that the technology was developed independently. Van Nest characterized Bates as a "disappointed inventor" who failed to persuade several companies, including Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc, and OpenAI, to adopt his technology. He also pointed out alleged flaws in Bates's technology, claiming it used approximate math that could lead to "incorrect" calculations.
Van Nest asserted that Google's chips were "fundamentally different" from what Singular's patents described, emphasizing the independence of their design.
Before the trial, Google had stated that Singular initially sought up to $7 billion in damages. However, during the trial, Timbers revised the claim to $1.67 billion.
Google introduced its processing units in 2016 to power AI functions such as speech recognition, content generation, and ad recommendation. Singular alleges that versions 2 and 3 of the units, introduced in 2017 and 2018, violate its patent rights.
Simultaneously, a U.S. appeals court in Washington is considering whether to invalidate Singular's patents in a separate case that Google appealed from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
