The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) said yesterday that it rejected 17 patent infringement claims asserted by Rambus against Nvidia, bringing the GPU-maker one step closer to victory in the dispute. This comes after the USPTO preliminarily denied Rambus' claims in July.

Nvidia will reportedly present the findings to an International Trade Commission judge in Washington D.C. who is overlooking the case – though, the judge is not bound by the Patent Office's findings. The judge is expected to make a decision in January, which will serve as a recommendation to the full ITC, at which point the commission could effectively bar imports from Nvidia's overseas suppliers if the goods are determined to violate Rambus-held patents.

The alleged infringements span across a multitude of Nvidia's products, including those with memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR and GDDR3 SDRAM. Eight separate claims from two other patents are still being investigated by the USPTO.