View Full Version : Dual Shock Lawsuit? Sony fails and pays 82 million?
SONY SHAKEN AS IT LOSES "DUALSHOCK" LAWSUIT
Immersion wins $82 million in patent infringement lawsuit against the Japanese giant
17:11 Touch-related technology licensing and development company Immersion has won a patent infringement lawsuit against Sony and been awarded $82 million in a case initiated in 2002.
According to a report on USAToday.com, the case focused on Sony's DualShock controllers and 47 videogame titles, products that Immersion, based in San Jose, claimed infringed on two of its patents relating to' vibro-tactile' technologies "that simulate the sense of touch in videogame play."
On Tuesday, a federal jury gave its verdict, agreeing that the Sony products in question infringed the Immersion patents and awarded the latter company $82 million - a sum that could have been tripled had the panel deemed the violations wilful.
Although happy with the verdict, Immersion had initially sought awards of $299 million when it first filed the patent infringement lawsuit in 2002.
"While the jury's award is less than the amount we requested, we are pleased the jury found the patents valid and infringed," Immersion's chief executive Victor Viegas told USAToday.com yesterday.
CVG Staff
I read this here
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/
How is this even possible that this is possible that of which I just found out and now I'm confused and dazed by this confusion that Sony has lost and I don't know where I am going with this long sentence that's wordy.[/url]
:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
gaming ultima
09-26-2004, 10:20
this explains it much better -
A federal jury in the USA has found in favour of technology firm Immersion Corporation in a case taken against Sony two years ago, agreeing that the PlayStation's Dual Shock controllers infringe two Immersion patents.
The case focused on US patents 6,275,213 and 6,424,333, which cover "haptic feedback" - specifically, the use of computer-controlled vibrating motors to provide tactile feedback to the user of a program.
Immersion filed suit against both Sony and Microsoft for infringing these patents in early 2002, and settled out of court with Microsoft in mid-2003, with the Seattle-based giant paying the company $26 million to license the technology, and buying a portion of the firm in the process.
Sony's decision to fight on in the US courts turned out to be the wrong one, as the jury found in favour of Immersion in the case, and while no final judgement has been filed in the case, Sony has been ordered to pay $82 million in damages.
A number of post-trial motions and potentially appeals are expected to be lodged in the coming weeks, and Immersion has already begun rattling legal sabres, saying in a statement last night that it intends to ask the court for a permanent injunction against Sony.
This would effectively prevent the firm from selling any more Dual Shock controllers, although of course the real outcome here will be that Sony licenses the technology from Immersion, as Microsoft has done.
So Microsoft decided to just pay it then bought the firm and then also liscened the firm? I'm not sure though, I have no idea, would this mean that DualShock2-Only Game work with it and etc? Well...how will this possibly turn out? :(
Interesting news. Obviously a bit of a knock for Sony. I doubt they intentionally infringed on the patent held by Immersion and that's what the jury and jury obviously decided too.
What did the jury 'obviously decided to do'
Let Immersion win? I dunno this though...explain what you just said, see I'm just sad that if Sony ever wanted to use the Immersion product they would have to go through Microsoft and Sony does not want to talk to their fierce competitor
M$: Oh well great we lose to Sony and now this let's just buy the dang company
Immersion: WOW SURE!
This is fairly common is patent related lawsuits.
What happened was Sony decided to fight. They had to pay X$'s in damages and will probably pay about the same as MS did to license the patents needed to use the technology going forward.
What Microsoft did was admitted they needed to license the patents. They payed to license and worked into the deal that part of the money would go toward purchasing part of the companies stock. The purchase of the stock may have gone towards indemnifying them vs future patents with the company.
Sometimes fighting a patent lawsuit is a good thing to do. Sometimes you just screw yourself over.
I think it was because of greed or I dunno...how will the next PS2 survive without a shock into there controls... :(
Don't worry they will have shock controllers. All they have to do is license the technology like MS did.
but see sony doesn't want to liscene THROUGH MS because they get profits of intermission now I believe....
That don't have to do anything with microsoft all they have to do is buy the rights to use them from Immersion just like microsoft did, you only worry should be that since sony challenged Immersion that if sony ask's for that rights to use them they say no
Wasn't there a similar problem that delayed the rollout of Dual shock on the first PS? Something to do with Nintendo and the 'rumble-pak'?
no, rumble pack was made on there own system or before imersion did there things (liscene it) so they couldn't be sued for the patent
FmanFORPS3
10-19-2004, 01:32
if they arent gonna put duel shock in the PS3 controllers (which i hardly think so) THAT WOULD JUST SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Duel shock will be in PS3 controllers, dont have a spaz attack.
they have a backup...come on now it's duAl shock...of course they'll have a backup...so if anyone has the new slim ps2's does it still have DS2?
Just for referance
Patent = Technology used (IE rumble functionality type in most modern controllers)
Copyright = Name and brnading (IE Dual Shock)
I'm not sure what you what you meant Siren, but here are the definitions of the two terms;
Patent
An intellectual property right relating to inventions - i.e. to advances made in a technical field. A patent for an invention is granted by the government to the applicant, and gives him the right for a limited period to stop others from making, using or selling the invention without permission. In return for this right, the applicant must disclose how his invention works in sufficient detail. When a patent is granted, the applicant becomes the owner of the patent. Like any other form of property, a patent can be bought, sold, licensed or mortgaged. Patents are territorial rights, so a UK patent will only give the owner rights within the United Kingdom and rights to stop others from importing products into the United Kingdom.
Copyright
A right of intellectual property, whereby authors obtain, for a limited time, certain exclusive rights to their works; in the United States, copyright is exclusively federal law, and derives from the “copyright clause” of the Constitution (Art. 1, sec.8, cl. 8 ), which provides Congress with the power “to promote science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to authors...the exclusive right to their...writings”
Thanks for the clarification Morph,
I was mainly responding to Watashi's "come on now it's duAl shock"
Pointing out that the Patent has nothing to do with the name of the product.
In my haste, I accidentally stated Copyright when I ment TradeMark.
no I meant -_- DUAL SHOCK AS IN THEY WERE SPELLING IT WRONG -_-***
KlawHammer
06-16-2006, 15:43
I'll have this up in a bit.
Done.
In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Sony has commented on the recent allegations that the PS3 will see further downgrades from the official specifications (http://www.ps3land.com/ps3specs.php).
Rumors had included examples such as the RSX being underclocked,the Cell processor downgraded, the PSU (Power Source Unit) changing from internal to external (a.k.a Xbox360's "power brick"), etc.
To these rumors, Jonathan Farghar (Sony spokesperson) replied, "Developers have been working with PS3 dev kits for anywhere between eight and 12 months, and to suggest that we'd now take the decision to downgrade the hardware at such a late stage, is, well, ridiculous."
He continued by saying, "Worse still is the suggestion that we couldn't fit all the technical components into a plastic box."
"Granted, whilst all products are not perfect, we do have over 40 years of experience making consumer electronics equipment, and therefore, extensive experience in making things fit - PSone and Slimline PS2 being just two examples of that."
It is certain Sony will be refuting a lot more rumors as the PlayStation 3 nears its launch date on November 17.
ps3 Wanna be
06-16-2006, 18:29
Great article. Couple of edits, and live!
KlawHammer
06-17-2006, 16:39
Does anyone want to create a "Sony" thumbnail? It could just be the SCE logo or the word "Sony" in their official text.
I'd do it, but well, we all know how great I am at graphic art :roll:
ps3 Wanna be
06-17-2006, 17:26
lol not to worry, I just put in a different image for the time being.