In a surprising turn of events just moments before closing arguments were slated to kick off in a high-stakes Boston trial on Wednesday, Google announced a resolution to the $1.6 billion patent infringement case brought by Massachusetts startup Singular Computing. The accusation alleged that Google had illicitly appropriated Singular’s technology to supercharge its artificial intelligence (AI) products.
Google’s Timely Exit
In a joint filing presented to U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV, both Google and Singular confirmed the closure of the dispute with a binding term sheet. This announcement came on the heels of two intense weeks of litigation before a Boston federal jury.
Swift Closure Amidst Legal Drama
The agreement materialized just thirty minutes before Alphabet’s legal team and Singular were set to present their closing arguments. Google spokesman José Castañeda expressed relief, stating, “We are pleased to have resolved this matter.” Castañeda also emphasized in a statement that Google’s Tensor Processing Units, central to its AI endeavors, were independently conceived and developed over several years by Google engineers, asserting they were not in violation of Singular’s patent claims.
Singular’s Accusations
Singular Computing’s founder, Joseph Bates, had claimed that he pitched innovative computing architecture ideas to Google to enhance the capabilities of AI computers. According to Bates, Google adopted his technology, utilizing it in a substantial number of computer chips.
