Digital Trends
If this doesn’t teach companies to be wary of making deals with Microsoft’s legal team when they think they have the Redmond software giant over a barrel…we don’t know what will.
Here we go: Back in 2002, haptics developer Immersion filed a lawsuit against both Microsoft and Sony, alleging that the biofeedback tech—a.k.a. rumble—in PlayStation and Xbox controllers violated Immersion patents. Microsoft settled for $26 million in 2003. End of story, right? Oh, no.
Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against haptics developer Immersion Corporation, claiming Immersion has violated terms of a 2003 licensing agreement which granted Microsoft money in the event Immersion settled with Sony over the use of patent “rumble” technology in its Dual Shock Playstation controllers. The details and history of the lawsuit are complicated, and seem to hedge on making fine distinctions between what constitutes a “settlement” and what constitutes a “business agreement.”
Sony Computer Entertainment and Immersion Corporation have agreed to settle their patent dispute over so-called "rumble" vibtration technology built into video game controllers and have announced plans to work together to bring the technology back to PlayStation products.
Rumble technology is much-loved by gamers, and adds to a game’s realism by shaking and vibrating a game controller as a direct result of on-screen actions like collisions, explosions, or, say, being konked on the head with a large pink inflatable rabbit.
Immersion Corporation, a developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, announced that the jury returned a verdict favorable to Immersion in its patent infringement suit against Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. and Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Inc. The jury found that Sony infringed all the asserted claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,275,213 and 6,424,333 and that those claims were valid. The verdict also awarded Immersion damages in the amount of $82.0 million. A judgment has not yet been entered, and Immersion expects that post-trial motions and other actions by Sony will be filed with the Court with respect to the jury’s decision and other matters. Immersion intends to ask the court to issue a permanent injunction to enjoin Sony’s continued infringement. After judgment has been entered, the case may be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
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