In the age of big data, countless new patents arem30s miner being issued for new processes and devices. While these inventions might be beneficial for society, companies sometimes find themselves in a battle with an inventor over a patent that is specific to their company.

Mining machines and chip stacks battle for "Dark Door" patents

As the global semiconductor industry increasingly shrinks whatsminer m30++in size, patent infringement lawsuits between companies with overlapping chip designs become increasingly common.

On Monday, two of the largest players in the mining machine whatsminer m30sspace—BHP Billiton and Caterpillar—filed a lawsuit against each other over who should be granted a patent on a “dark door” chip design. The door is a critical component in semiconductor manufacturing, as it allows chips to be inserted and removed from wafers quickly and easily.

The case is likely to cause significant disruption to the semiconductor industry, as it could lead to multiple patent infringements by both companies. Both defendants are also major suppliers of mining machines, so any infringement caused by their products could have far-reaching consequences.

The case is reminiscent of a similar lawsuit filed by Intel earlier this year. In that case, Intel claimed that rival Samsung was infringing on its patents relating to 3D printing technology. If either of these cases succeeds in gaining widespread patent infringement, it could have a significant impact on the semiconductor industry as a whole.

What did the patent cover?

The patent covers a mining machine that uses chip stacks to mine cryptocurrencies.

The Dark Door: How and why was it invented?

The Dark Door is a technology patented by Intel in 2007 that allows data to be moved quickly between two processors on a computer motherboard. The technology allows the processors to communicate with each other using a special type of signal called a “dark signal”. This signal is undetectable by the user, and therefore helps to speed up data transfer between the two processors.