ATI sued over HDCP claims

A CLASS action has started in the USA alleging that ATI Technologies' graphics cards don't support HDCP although it claims they do.

A filing made by Stanley Batsalkin and Kenny Vargas on behalf of themselves and others in a San Jose district court alleges ATI Technologies, ATI Technologies Systems, ATI Research Silicon Valley, ATI Research and 200 "John Does" breached state consumer protection statutes, express warranty statures, implied warranty statutes, negligent misrepresentation common laws and unjust enrichment common laws.

The plaintiffs allege that since "at least 2003",ATI said many of its graphics cards support High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). That spec is part of the Windows Vista operating system.

But, claim the plaintiffs, if video cards or monitors aren't designed to the right specifications, the "new content protection scheme will not allow high definition audiovisual content to be clearly transmitted".

ATI, it's alleged, said many of its graphics card are sold as HDCP ready, or HDCP compliant. "These representations were false and the cards cannot transmit content pursuant to the HDCP specification. ATI has begun to revise its website marketing materials to delete reference to video cards being HDCP ready or compliant," the filing claims.

The plaintiffs claim they and a heap of other folk wouldn't have bought the cards "had they known the truth about the products". They want a jury trial. µ

See Also
The complaint (PDF - 1.31MB)