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Barry
Mr. Do It All
Apr 3, 2005, 6:11 AM
Post #1 of 1
(516 views)
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Sony Looses Patent Case - Stop Selling Dual Shock Controllers
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Japanese electronics giant Sony's video game unit has been ordered to pay $90.7 million US in damages to Immersion Corp. over a patent infringement lawsuit related to a controller for Sony's PlayStation consoles. The Tokyo-based company plans to appeal the decision by the federal district court in Oakland, Calif., a Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
In the decision issued Thursday, Sony Computer Entertainment was ordered to pay damages to Immersion Corp., a San Jose, Calif., company that develops and licenses digital technology. In a 2002 lawsuit, Immersion accused Sony of patent infringement with the Dual Shock controller for the PlayStation and PlayStation2. Dual Shock technology makes the controller shake in time with what's going on in the game. mmersion Corp. of San Jose sued Sony in 2002, claiming the consumer-electronics giant infringed on its patents with the PlayStation's "Dual Shock" controllers. Such controllers are designed to enhance games and make them more realistic by, for example, vibrating in sync with driving games when players drive over bumpy roads in a video game's virtual world.
A federal jury sided with Immersion last year and awarded the company $82 million in damages; U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken on Thursday upheld the decision and added $8.7 million in interest to the amount. But she also granted Sony a stay while the consumer electronics giant appeals the verdict. Sony Computer Entertainment America spokeswoman Monica Wik would not comment on the matter yesterday, saying that it was against company policy to talk about ongoing litigation.
Immersion originally sought $299 million from Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America. Immersion chief executive Victor Viegas said the amount his company was awarded works out to about 1.37 percent in royalties on $5 billion in sales of the PlayStation 2. As Immersion usually negotiates 5 percent royalties, he said, "it was something of a compromise."
Sony denies that Dual Shock violates Immersion's patents, the district court decision included an order to suspend PlayStation sales; this menas no more Dual Shock sales, but that order does not hold while an appeal is being heard. Sony will continue to sell its game machines in the United States. What they will use if they have to stop sales of the controller is not known, hoepfully they have some plan....
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