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Microsoft Sues UK's Datel Over Controllers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the you-gotta-be-kidding-me dept.

nathanielinbrazil writes "Microsoft has sued a British manufacturer over the infringement of four of its patents for Xbox game controllers. The suit was filed in Seattle, Washington, and Datel has yet to respond. Datel is a United Kingdom company with a US unit and has produced two specific controllers — the TurboFire and WildFire — that Microsoft wants stopped." The infringing patents are over "portions of a gaming controller" and "portion of a gaming input device having an illuminated region."

4 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. 4 + 2 = 4? by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Specifically, four of the patents - 521,015, D522,011, D547,763 and D581,422 - relate to "portions of a gaming controller", another two, D563,480 and D565,668 cover a "portion of a gaming input device having an illuminated region"

    the infringement of four of its patents for Xbox game controllers.

  2. Well it is the same thing.. by Mekkah · · Score: 4, Informative

    Datel 360 controller w/ pic

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    ~Mekkah
  3. Justified "stealing" for interoperability by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    the action replay (which uses stolen code from Nintendo)

    Accolade used "stolen" code from Sega to get the console to recognize video game cartridges. Sega sued and lost. Post-DMCA, Static Control Components used "stolen" code from Lexmark to get the printer to recognize toner cartridges. Lexmark sued and lost.

  4. Re:Yay! by rtfa-troll · · Score: 3, Informative

    You are probably right that this isn't a patent troll case. An interesting thing not mentioned in the article is that it seems that Datel sued Microsoft first. I guess this is Microsoft's way of saying "don't sue us; we're bigger than you; due process will not apply here".

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    =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();