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Sony Ordered to Stop PlayStation Sales

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

March 28, 2005, 11:45 AM

Sony said Monday that a court has upheld an earlier ruling by a California jury and ordered the company to halt sales of its PlayStation videogame console.

The intellectual property lawsuit brought by Immersion Corp. covers technology used to make a controller to vibrate during game play, which Immersion claims Sony copied without permission.

According to a company representative, Sony will still be able to sell the game consoles while it attempts to appeal the ruling. The company will also start paying Immersion royalties as ordered.

A California jury in 2004 ordered Sony to pay Immersion $82 million to settle the case, as well as halt sales of its gaming consoles until royalties were paid. Sony appealed the ruling, but lost it in a higher court and an additional $8 million was added to the judgment for interest.

The gaming business has become a bright spot in Sony's portfolio, as it has been fairly immune to the pricing declines that have plagued its other divisions. Nearly half of the company's profit comes from games.

Sony maintains that it did not infringe on patents owned by Immersion and has vowed to appeal the ruling.

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By nightops

posted Mar 29, 2005 - 1:53 PM

This is pretty ridiculous. Should people get compensated for the use of their patented ideas... I think they should for the most part. However, I think I have an idea: I'll patent a thing called 'oxygen'. Now wait a few thousand years,...and now I can sue/invoice everyone in the world for the revenue lost over time... Obviously O2 can't be 'patented'..but the principle is that Immersion obviously delayed in filing so that they could maximize their profits. The PSP doesn't have forcefeedback or other Immersion technologies...so now that Sony is shifting away, Immersion must attack now to seek maximum profits, otherwise it's too late. Who cares what it's about, this is a sheer lack of ethics on BOTH sides of the fence. Sony for using a patented technology without prior approval. Immersion for intentionally delaying prosecution to maximize gain on an unrealized use of the technology they patented (unrealized being that Immersion has not, nor has any plans to, develop a device using their patented technology).

Score: 0

By jogygeorge

posted Mar 29, 2005 - 5:18 AM

"lawsuit brought by Immersion Corp. covers technology used to make a controller to vibrate during game play."

Now, Now ... would that cover other "devices" used to vibrate during game play ;) which would entile Immersion the right to royalties :p

Score: 0

By mcbazza

posted Mar 28, 2005 - 6:16 PM

Is it me, or do lawyers now (think) they run the World?

I also hear that Cadbury (big chocolate co. in the UK) have trade-marked the colour purple (http://www.boingboing.ne...dbury_trademarks_t.html).

Does that mean I now have to take my curtains down? Or, am I okay as long as no laywers go past my window, and no one reports me?

Score: 0

By DigitalSin

posted Mar 28, 2005 - 5:24 PM

The whole reason for the patent system is to register your idea and show everyone you have come up with an idea and intend on implementing it. If this system didn't exist you'd have a lot more lawsuits in the courts with people claiming they thought of something first and so and so is copying them. Or, without the concept of patents period, you'd have little guys coming up with great ideas but no funding to implement it, and big guys taking their ideas and profiting from them.

I know the anti-MS people are eager to jump in and say MS does that very thing, but just bear in mind MS generally buys the rights to use patents. That is a separate issue.

Sony makes insane amounts of profits from gaming and if they did in fact infringe on a patent and did not give credit (royalties) where due, they shouldn't be too reluctant to pay up and do some honest business.

Score: 0

By KSzostek

posted Mar 28, 2005 - 7:45 PM

Sony has been arrogant for a long time now it is about time they pay up for stealing 90 million is not enough in my opinion.

Score: 0

By vmsb0

edited Mar 29, 2005 - 11:48 AM

Has anyone seen Microsoft's settlement with Immersion from 2003? It appears that Microsoft got a stake of Immersion as a part of the settlement.

Check out the ZDNet article from 2003:

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5056455.html

Score: 0

By pjlasl

posted Mar 28, 2005 - 1:34 PM

lawsuits will just keep coming and coming...what's next? shall we sue the button configuration of the controllers, or maybe the scrolling effect of a game, what else is silly that can be sued about?

Score: 0

By ogman

posted Mar 29, 2005 - 8:30 AM

Stop frivolous lawsuits...by corporations!!!

Score: 0

By somefool

posted Mar 29, 2005 - 5:01 AM

funnily enough (or not maybe) I believe Atari, or someone, were sueing over side scrolling.
There are some very odd game related patents

Score: 0

By

posted Mar 28, 2005 - 1:43 PM

You make a good point. No matter what kind of blanket copyright that Sony holds, someone, somewhere, will find something that isn't covered, and exploit it for all it's worth. It's people like these that tie up the justice system in America.

Score: 0

By iamtux

edited Mar 28, 2005 - 1:48 PM

Well said. This is stupid. This is like suing Microsoft b/c Windows runs on most computers in the world. I was shocked to see this. This is a grave injustice.

Score: 0

By KSzostek

posted Mar 28, 2005 - 7:49 PM

Injustice! You just have no clue do you. They stole someone else's idea what don't you get.

Score: 0

By sparky5556

posted Mar 28, 2005 - 10:17 PM

It's not about stealing ideas, It's all about the almighty dollar.

Score: 0

By KSzostek

posted Mar 29, 2005 - 9:58 AM

No it is about stealing ideas period.

Score: 0

By carmad

edited Mar 29, 2005 - 5:08 PM

"Sony stole their idea"
It is very very unlikely that this is true.
That is the problem with the patent system. It is very very unlikely that Sony ever heard of them, their product (if they had one), or their patent. Sony didn't steal anything, they just fell into the trap of the tons of patents out there on broad, generic and obvious ideas. Immersion got a patent on something obvious, and it is very likely that Sony developed it independently. Like almost all the other patents in the tech and software industry, it should not have been given because it was obvious.

Score: 0

By skylorz

edited Mar 29, 2005 - 1:18 AM

It's about both.

Immersion could have made the only virbating controls availible for the playstation and could have made big bucks. But they cannot make big bucks if the feature is already included. So they find another way to make it...

Score: 0

By guilherme

posted Mar 29, 2005 - 11:18 AM

Why is Immersion doing all this only now?

Playstation was launched back in 1994.

They only realized the infringment now in 2005?

Just because Sony makes big bucks now I think...

Score: 0

By somefool

posted Mar 30, 2005 - 12:48 PM

Im not sure how long its been going on (chances are quite a while) but I heard about it a few months ago atleast.

Score: 0

By mingsty

posted Mar 31, 2005 - 6:16 PM

Read that article that was posted earlier http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5056455.html You'll see that they sued Sony back in 2002. So they didn't just do it now. If Immersion has the patent on this then of course they are due the money. How would you feel if someone was using something you'd invented to turn a profit and not gave you credit or $?

Score: 0

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