PS2 Controller Suit Goes Badly For Sony

Immersion Corp, which owns the patent on 'rumble' technology, has won another round in its suit against Sony. Sony's 'dualshock' controller has used rumble technology for years, and in 2005 a judge awarded $82 Million to the patent-holder in payment. From the article: "Sony's defence was the alleged nondisclosure of some of the inventions of key employee Craig Thorner. who has been a consultant both for Immersion and subsequently for Sony. But, according to the report, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken was unhappy with Thorner's testimony supporting Sony, given that he had also been paid by Sony, and so dismissed this line of defence."

Comments

Could this..

[Anonymous Coward]

perhaps have any correlation to the PS3 delays? Waiting to find out what will happen to their tried-and-true Dualshock controllers? From the boomerang shape of the demo controller at E3, it would seem Sony wants to hold onto the dualshock design, but does this suit keep them from implementing their old methods?

This doesn't by any means overshadow the other hardware-related, possible causes for the delays, but might this be a contributing factor no one has mentioned previously?

-NIs

In perspective

[wombatmobile]

We're talking about 1.37% of revenue:

FTA

In the last ruling against Sony, made in early 2005, Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court levied an $82 million award to Immersion Corp., or 1.37% of Sony's sales of PlayStations and PlayStation-related paraphernalia. The $82 million is less than the $299 million originally sought by Immersion Corp., but the court ruled that Sony's infringement of the vibration patents was not willful and therefore not deserving of the full penalties.

Re:Wow, this one was tough!

[drinkypoo]

Rooting for companies with bad patents because they're going after someone you don't like is wrong. It's a direct endorsement of the current, broken patent system. (Vibration has been used for feedback for ages, though not in game controllers...)