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Immersion Sues Sony and Microsoft Over Force Feedback

Posted by michael on from the putting-a-damper-on-things dept.

stereoroid writes: "Immersion Corp. has filed a lawsuit against Sony and Microsoft, alleging unauthorised use of their patents - here's their press release. The suit alleges that any use of touch or force feedback in their consoles violates their patents. For some obscure reason, this was first reported in the Irish Times today."

5 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. In other news... by RICE_BOY_TYPE_R · · Score: 5, Funny

    Today, Immersion technologies filed a separate suit against numerous adult "toy" manufacturers for patent infringements relating to a variety of force feedback mechanisms.

    The suit names the makers of "orgasmatron" and the makers of the "king donger 3000"

    --
    I live my life one quarter pounder at a time -Vinh Diesel
  2. Strange... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought Newton would've got all the patents in on force feedback...

  3. Prior Art by jordan_a · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clearly I have prior art claims, since when I was 11 or so my friends and I would take turns hitting each other while we played with our Atari.

    1. Re:Prior Art by PhilHibbs · · Score: 5, Funny

      When one of my friends was playing Revs (F1 racing game) on the BBC Micro, another friend and I picked up his chair, and titled him when he accelerated and went around. We nearly broke his neck when he crashed.

  4. Re:Help me understand... by BlueUnderwear · · Score: 5, Funny
    As you point out, there are law firms / patent search organizations that help companies stay alert to relevant patents.

    Yeah. In Italy, there are lots of security firms that help restaurant and shop owners stay alert to relevent threats to their physical security...

    If you don't want to pay those companies, you can do routine searches of your own on the PTO web site.

    If you don't want to pay those companies, you can repair the baseball bat damage and put out the fires on your own.

    Most businesses prefer to pay, though.

    --
    Say no to software patents.