Cooler Master Closed-Loop Coolers To Be Pulled From U.S. Market

[durfyn00b]

Thanks to the court decision made on September 23rd, Cooler Master's closed-loop coolers are not allowed to be sold (specifically the ones that use a pump mounted on a cold plate) in the US.
 

Cooler Master did not confirm nor deny if the cooler used in the R9 Fury X reference card will be affected.

 

Source: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/injunction-cooler-master-closed-loop-coolers,30175.html#xtor=RSS-998

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention that this goes back to December of 2014, where the court ruled in favor of Asetek when they sued Cooler Master for patent infringement. Source to that one: http://www.asetek.com/press-room/news/2014/asetek-announces-significant-victory-in-intellectual-property-lawsuit/

I personally think that the R9 Fury X might not be affected, but if it is, it's likely going to be pulled off the shelves for a while until AMD can find a replacement for the cooler. Maybe they'll go with Asetek?

[Nineshadow]

inb4 $2000 Fury X

/s

No, I'm just kidding.

 

 

I'm curious to see how this affects AMD's Fury X. They certainly have some sort of contract with Cooler Master.

[iludez]

Geez thats huge

[Albatross]

Why is it being pulled?

[Nineshadow]

Also guys, read this :

 

In December 2014, Asetek won a case against Cooler Master Incorporated that awarded Asetek $404,941 in damage, which represented a 14.5 percent royalty fee on all sales of Cooler Master-branded closed-loop water cooling units that use a cold plate mounted pump from 2012 until the date of the judgement. Cooler Master appealed that decision, but the result of that effort was not a pretty one for the company.On September 23, the court again sided with Asetek and denied Cooler Master's demands. Not only did the ruling remain in Asetek's favor, the court increased the fine from 14.5 percent to 25.735 percent on all sales from January 1, 2015 and later. Additionally, the court issued a permanent injunction barring Cooler Master from selling closed-loop coolers that use a pump mounted on top of a cold plate in the United States.

It seems this fight between Asetek and Cooler Master has been going on for a little while.

 

AMD shot itself in the foot, again. D:

[iludez]

So this applies only to a cold plate cooler?

[Nineshadow]

So this applies only to a cold plate cooler?

 

 the court issued a permanent injunction barring Cooler Master from selling closed-loop coolers that use a pump mounted on top of a cold plate in the United States.

[Bsmith]

Why is it being pulled?

because of this.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/455546-asetek-%E2%80%93-court-confirms-judgement-increases-damages-award-and-issues-injunction/

 

alot of people call ASETEK a patent troll, but forget that ASETEK is the company behind nearly all AOI coolers and that companies like corsair only slam their own branding onto itand sell it.

Now it seems that CM made some AOI coolers together with ASETEK but also some without ASETEK, but all of the coolers appear to fall under the same patent which is owned by ASETEK, so CM made it's self guilty of copy right infrication.

It however is not confirmed which coolers do and which don't infringe it, altough it's said that the watercooled fury-x also get's in trouble through this.

[iludez]

 

So this applies only to a cold plate cooler?

 

 the court issued a permanent injunction barring Cooler Master from selling closed-loop coolers that use a pump mounted on top of a cold plate in the United States.

 

My god thats pretty crap.Why doesnt this apply to other vendors?

[Albatross]

because of this.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/455546-asetek-%E2%80%93-court-confirms-judgement-increases-damages-award-and-issues-injunction/

 

alot of people call ASETEK a patent troll, but forget that ASETEK is the company behind nearly all AOI coolers and that companies like corsair only slam their own branding onto itand sell it.

Now it seems that CM made some AOI coolers together with ASETEK but also some without ASETEK, but all of the coolers appear to fall under the same patent which is owned by ASETEK, so CM made it's self guilty of copy right infrication.

It however is not confirmed which coolers do and which don't infringe it, altough it's said that the watercooled fury-x also get's in trouble through this.

 

Thank you!

 

That really sucks, but CM should have been careful...

[Deli]

Every AIO sold in US is either made by, or lisenced by Asetek. Except those who put the pump somewhere other than on the cold plate. Only Swiftech and EK can escape this curse now. I know some people defend Asetek doesn't have the monopoly. However they certainly has the biggest slice of the pie. Big enough to influence the market price. Let's see if the price of AIO will go up or down.

 

Maybe that is a good thing. It forces other manufacturers to innovate and come up with new ideas and designs. We'll see.

[Dabombinable]

Every AIO sold in US is either made by, or lisenced by Asetek. Except those who put the pump somewhere other than on the cold plate. Only Swiftech and EK can escape this curse now.

 

Maybe that is a good thing. It forces other manufacturers to innovate and come up with new ideas and designs. We'll see.

So those who put the pump on the fan itself are fine......

[iludez]

Every AIO sold in US is either made by, or lisenced by Asetek. Except those who put the pump somewhere other than on the cold plate. Only Swiftech and EK can escape this curse now. I know some people defend Asetek doesn't have the monopoly. However they certainly has the biggest slice of the pie. Big enough to influence the market price. Let's see if the price of AIO will go up or down.

 

Maybe that is a good thing. It forces other manufacturers to innovate and come up with new ideas and designs. We'll see.

Thanks for that info i didnt know they held so much rights.

[Deli]

So those who put the pump on the fan itself are fine......

Yeah, I forget that one. Good caught.

[Dabombinable]

Yeah, I forget that one. Good caught.

I have to say, the AIO that use that design are at least quite good and priced reasonably. They can never be Seidon 120V cheap.

[iludez]

I have to say, the AIO that use that design are at least quite good and priced reasonably. They can never be Seidon 120V cheap.

BEcause seidon 120vs are trash.

I have an antec 650 pretty nifty coolers

[Dabombinable]

BEcause seidon 120vs are trash.

I have an antec 650 pretty nifty coolers

Seidon 120V are actually quite good-I own one. The only issue is the stock fan, which is LAF with CPU running above stock and also sleeve bearing. I was going to get some Corsair SP120 for it due to them actually being quieter and producing more airflow, but I just never got around to ordering them. 

[KickinGravy]

How does this affect the warranty for your cooler if your cooler is no longer available in the US I wonder, I am sort of concerned as I have a Nepton 240m from Cooler Master.  

[escape093]

Thanks to the court decision made on September 23rd, Cooler Master's closed-loop coolers are not allowed to be sold (specifically the ones that use a pump mounted on a cold plate) in the US.

 

People will just buy them from Europe, then 

[Me1z]

I don't think this will affect the Fury X at all. The pump isn't a separate product, its a sub-component of a whole product. The only way this could affect the Fury X is if they were actually manufactured in the US, which as far as I know they aren't.

[Derangel]

Every AIO sold in US is either made by, or lisenced by Asetek. Except those who put the pump somewhere other than on the cold plate. Only Swiftech and EK can escape this curse now. I know some people defend Asetek doesn't have the monopoly. However they certainly has the biggest slice of the pie. Big enough to influence the market price. Let's see if the price of AIO will go up or down.

 

Maybe that is a good thing. It forces other manufacturers to innovate and come up with new ideas and designs. We'll see.

 

Actually, there is another exception. Corair has some AIOs OEM'd by CoolIT. CoolIT was sued by Asetek over them but it was ruled that due to the Corsair AIOs having some custom design to them it did not fall under infringement of Asetek's patents.

[Prysin]

Seidon 120V are actually quite good-I own one. The only issue is the stock fan, which is LAF with CPU running above stock and also sleeve bearing. I was going to get some Corsair SP120 for it due to them actually being quieter and producing more airflow, but I just never got around to ordering them.

Dont get corsair af. They suck, no really they do. I bought a twin pack.... Buy a NF-F12 pwm fan. They are ugly af. But they are easier to fine tune the rpm.... Corsair Af isn't that good for low rpm control...

[SurvivorNVL]

EK, Swiftech, and air cooling.  Perfectly fine for me.

[SteveGrabowski0]

I don't think this will affect the Fury X at all. The pump isn't a separate product, its a sub-component of a whole product. The only way this could affect the Fury X is if they were actually manufactured in the US, which as far as I know they aren't.

 

Cooler Master AIOs also can't be imported into the US by this ruling.

[Me1z]

Cooler Master AIOs also can't be imported into the US by this ruling.

 

But that's the thing, The Fury X is not by itself a 'Cooler Master AIO' cooler. The complete product is an AMD R9 Fury X graphics card and will be marketed as such, the parts that make it up are irrelevant as long as the individual parts are not being sold separately. Lets say Company X makes paints that are banned in America for legal issues; if someone in China makes a painting using those paints, is the final portrait banned from being sold in America? No, because a picture is an entirely different entity than raw paints and the picture is not being sold with the intention of somehow being used as paint. Selling the complete product 'R9 Fury X' in no way competes with the sale of an Asetek AIO cooler. One is a graphics card the other is a CPU cooler; two different products, two different markets.