[mNovak]

It might invalidate aspects of the patent, but the two are different enough that certain aspects of this one are still patentable.

Bottom line, you don't always patent the whole device, sometimes just the small unique implementation details are valuable enough.

[pclmulqdq]

I assume they are going for a design patent, which they may well get (and doesn't protect against much other than direct copies). A method patent or a utility patent is a lot harder in light of the prior art.