Laptops Affected by NVIDIA Chip Settlement Listed

Dozens of potentially defective laptop models from Apple, Dell, and HP appear in an Nvidia legal settlement, the first time that defendant Nvidia has publicly recognized a comprehensive list of models potentially affected by a bad graphics chip.

In response to the settlement dated August 12, 2010, Nvidia issued this statement today. "We can confirm that Nvidia has settled litigation concerning a weak die/packaging material set in certain versions of our previous generation MCP (media and communication processor) and GPU products used in notebook configurations. Notice of this settlement has been sent to potentially affected eligible customers. Claims are being processed through a third party administrator who is working directly with our customers. Consumers who believe they are affected and wish to file a claim should read the notice and follow the instructions that it sets out. As previously announced, our second-quarter financial results reflected costs associated with this settlement."
However, starting on page 24 of the settlement, Nvidia also stated that it "has denied, and continues to deny, all allegations of wrongdoing or liability" related to the claims. And it goes on to say that it is settling "solely because it will eliminate the burden, expense, management distraction and uncertainties of further litigation and the concomitant distraction of resources and efforts from their business." The settlement Web site cautions that "claim Forms will not be available and should not be submitted until after the Final Approval hearing, which is scheduled for December 20, 2010."
The settlement document spells out on page 10 a Settlement Class "who own a Class Computer that has experienced an Identified Symptom, and who submit a timely, complete, and valid Claim Form to the Administrator with the Claim Period, shall upon verification and approval by the Administrator, be entitled to the replacement of the Nvidia GPU, MCP and/or motherboard, as the case may be (the 'Chip Replacement'), free of charge."
The document continues. "The chip replacement shall be performed by the OEMs, or the original device manufacturers or designees...No Chip Replacement approved and authorized by the Administrator pursuant to Section 2.7(4) below shall be denied or refused by an OEM, original device manufacturers or designees."