looks like we have entered an era of not innovation, but rather innovation litigation. Companies are suing each other for technologies which were a part of the enthusiast movement not too long ago. The latest case in point is Asetek Holdings, which sued CoolIT Systems for US patent #8,240,362."The company and its legal firm of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP moved to action and sued its largest competitor, Canadian firm CoolIT Systems. While the case is pending its initial hearing, we took a detailed look at the patents in question (8,240,362, 8,245,764). Based on the engineering drawings, the initial design and size stem from an Intel retail heatsink for the Socket 478 (Pentium 4), which was used to create a liquid cooling part in the same or similar volume. Asetek integrated the pump and the reservoir in the tight space above the actual processor.
The idea came from the early days of Xbox 360 development, when the goal was to cool down the hot console with liquid cooling. However, when the pricing negotiations between Asetek and Microsoft broke down, Microsoft went on the market with the inadequately cooled console and we all know the history of the Red Ring of Death."
