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Gamedaily BizFate of Sony's DualShock in Question
Sony loses appeal in Immersion lawsuit
It was announced today, according to the Wall Street Journal, that Sony has lost its appeal in its lawsuit with Immersion Corp., a developer and licensor of touch feedback technology. A judgment was entered in the case in March of last year, stating that Sony would owe Immersion $91 million.
The original judgment, which stated that Sony was violating Immersion's patents and that the company must cease selling PlayStation systems, DualShock controllers, and dozens of games that use the force feedback, was upheld.
According to the WSJ, when Sony asked for a new trial it "alleged that Immersion concealed information regarding earlier haptic-technology inventions by Craig Thorner, a former paid consultant to Immersion who submitted testimony on Sony's behalf. Sony argued that it could have used information about other inventions by Mr. Thorner, if known during the trial, to undermine the validity of Immersion's patents.
"Immersion denied the charges, and accused Sony of paying Mr. Thorner $150,000 for false testimony. Sony denied the allegation, stating that the money was an advance royalty to license Mr. Thorner's patents from Electro Source LLC, a maker of videogame accessories that was also sued by Immersion. Sony said it paid Electro Source, in turn, for an option to Mr. Thorner's patents."
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken, however, said that Thorner was an "unreliable" witness, and said "strong evidence" points to his testimony against Immersion as a "quid pro quo" for the $150,000 payment. "The court finds that Sony has not presented clear and convincing evidence of misconduct by Immersion that would warrant a new trial," wrote Judge Wilken.
So this all leaves us with the question, "What does Sony do now?" It's hard to believe that Sony would end up ceasing production of its PS2 or DualShock. The likely outcome is that Sony will be forced to pay the damages and new fees to become one of Immersion's many licensees. This could cost Sony potentially up to $30 million a year alone. Immersion currently has more than 20 gaming companies as licensees.
One has to wonder, however, if Sony's strange-looking "boomerang" PS3 controller design was a side effect of this pending suit. It'll be interesting to see how Sony is affected by this going forward.
by James Brightman
Topic: Ferret's Bar and Grill "Take that Sony!" (Read 938 times)