According to The Inquirer, United States lawyers have just filed pleadings in a representative suit against ATI Technologies, a manufacturer of computer graphics hardware, in connection with claims made about the interoperability of its graphics cards with HDCP technology. The claim is founded in breach of warranties implied by consumer protection legislation, and alternatively negligent misrepresentation, though they also throw in unjust enrichment for good measure.
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.