That sound you hear is the PS2 screeching

[Jobber of the Week 0]

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=3&id=332037

 

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. District Court in Oakland, California, has ordered Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and its U.S. unit to pay $90.7 million in damages to Immersion Corp. for patent infringement over controllers used with PlayStation game consoles.

 

In the ruling handed down Thursday, the federal court also ordered Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Entertainment America Inc. to stop selling the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game consoles using Dualshock controllers as well as more than 40 game software products. (Kyodo News)

 

Better buy your PS2s before they become rare items, I guess. Who here saw that coming, raise your hand.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

...what the hell?

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Well now, ain't that some shit?

[Jer 0]

The judge granted a stay on the ruling pending appeal, so nothing's going to happen for awhile. I'd be stunned if PS2 production actually stops even temporarily because of this, but you never know. I doubt anyone even expected it to get this far.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

HA HA!

 

/Nelson Muntz

 

Sony would be hit harder by having to recall all of the PSones more too.

[Slayer 0]

Who the hell is Immersion?

[Golgo 13 0]

I really doubt the appeal will be successful, but I expect that in addition to the settlement here, Sony will toss bigger money at Immersion in order to continue using the DualShock.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Uh, better late than never I guess...

[Scroby 0]

So when did Immersion start making the controllers, none the less start using them?

[KingPK 0]

Here is the website for that Immersion company. Apparently they make force feedback devices for medical training and games, and emphasize the sense of touch in all their products.

 

Has this suit been out there and no one knows about it? I guess they contend that Sony stole their ideas when they developed the Dualshock.

[Jingus 0]

Didn't Nintendo do all this with that Rumble Pack before Sony ever did Dualshock anyway?

[Downhome 0]

IT IS SO ORDERED.

 

Dated: 3/24/05

 

CLAUDIA WILKEN

United States District Judge

 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

 

IMMERSION CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA, INC., SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT, INC., and MICROSOFT CORPORATION,

Defendants.

 

No. C 02-0710 CW

 

ORDER ENTERING PERMANENT INJUNCTION AND GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO STAY INJUNCTION PENDING APPEAL

 

For the reasons set forth in its January 10, 2005 Order, and having entered judgment in favor of Plaintiff Immersion Corp. (Immersion), the Court hereby PERMANENTLY ENJOINS Defendants Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc., (SCEA) and Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., (SCEI) (collectively Sony) from manufacturing, using, and/or selling in, or importing into, the United States the infringing Sony Playstation system, including its Playstation consoles, Dualshock controllers, and those games found by the jury to infringe. [FN1: The jury found that the following games, in conjunction with the Playstation consoles and Dualshock controllers, infringed either the '213 patent, the '333 patent or both patents: A Bug's Life; Amplitude; Ape Escape; Atlantis: The Lost Empire; Bloody Roar 2; Cool Boarders 3; Cool Boarders 4; Cool Boarders 2001; Crash Bash; Crash Team Racing; Drakan: The Ancients' Gate; Emperor's New Groove; Extermination; FantaVision; Final Fantasy X; Formula One 2001; The Getaway; Gran Turismo; Gran Turismo 2; Gran Turismo 3; Grand Theft Auto: Vice City; Grand Theft Auto 3; Grind Session; ICO; Jak & Daxter; Kinetica; Kingdom Hearts; Legend of the Dragoon; The Mark of Kri; Medal of Honor Frontline; Medievil 2; Metal Gear Solid 2; Monster's, Inc.; Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus; SOCOM Navy Seals; Speed Punks; Spyro: Ripto's Rage; Spyro: Year of the Dragon; Stuart Little 2; Syphon Filter 2; Syphon Filter 3; Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3; Twisted Metal: Black; Twisted Metal 4; Twisted Metal: Small Brawl; Treasure Planet; and War of the Monsters.] As described in the January 10 Order, no recall is required of products already sold, but Sony will pay a license fee on all products already placed in the stream.

[Jingus 0]

Seems like a really arbitrary listing of games, too. The whole thing just reeks of some little company that happened to patent something similar to Dualshock trying to rake Sony over the coals just to cash in.

[Guest jm29195]

Oh well, we'll still get them in the uk..

[Guest MikeSC]

Seems like a really arbitrary listing of games, too. The whole thing just reeks of some little company that happened to patent something similar to Dualshock trying to rake Sony over the coals just to cash in.

If they're making medical equipment, rest assured --- they're not a small company.

 

This is stunning, but if Sony stole it, they stole it.

-=Mike

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Seems like a really arbitrary listing of games, too.  The whole thing just reeks of some little company that happened to patent something similar to Dualshock trying to rake Sony over the coals just to cash in.

If they're making medical equipment, rest assured --- they're not a small company.

 

This is stunning, but if Sony stole it, they stole it.

-=Mike

Microsoft did too, but they were smart enough to settle.

[Guest CronoT]

Didn't Nintendo do all this with that Rumble Pack before Sony ever did Dualshock anyway?

The Rumble Pack from the N64 and the Rumble Feature in the GC controller is actually a kind of pager motor. So, I doubt that Nintendo was/is in violation of the same thing.

[Downhome 0]

I'm pretty sure that I've heard that years ago, Nintendo dealt with this, while Sony and Microsoft either didn't bother to do so, or they didn't do their homework enough when releasing their products.

[Jericholic82 0]

And we thought the WWF lawsuit was badd SHEESH

[starvenger 0]

I'm pretty sure that I've heard that years ago, Nintendo dealt with this, while Sony and Microsoft either didn't bother to do so, or they didn't do their homework enough when releasing their products.

Probably. The upshot of all this is that Sony will pay Immersion either a flat fee or royalties and everything will be back to normal again.

[mister foozel 0]

meh, that games list is pretty weak, save for a few

 

A Bug's Life; Amplitude; Ape Escape; Atlantis: The Lost Empire; Bloody Roar 2; Cool Boarders 3; Cool Boarders 4; Cool Boarders 2001; Crash Bash; Crash Team Racing; Drakan: The Ancients' Gate; Emperor's New Groove; Extermination; FantaVision; Final Fantasy X; Formula One 2001; The Getaway; Gran Turismo; Gran Turismo 2; Gran Turismo 3; Grand Theft Auto: Vice City; Grand Theft Auto 3; Grind Session; ICO; Jak & Daxter; Kinetica; Kingdom Hearts; Legend of the Dragoon; The Mark of Kri; Medal of Honor Frontline; Medievil 2; Metal Gear Solid 2; Monster's, Inc.; Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus; SOCOM Navy Seals; Speed Punks; Spyro: Ripto's Rage; Spyro: Year of the Dragon; Stuart Little 2; Syphon Filter 2; Syphon Filter 3; Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3; Twisted Metal: Black; Twisted Metal 4; Twisted Metal: Small Brawl; Treasure Planet; and War of the Monsters

 

and let's not forget this part at the end either: As described in the January 10 Order, no recall is required of products already sold, but Sony will pay a license fee on all products already placed in the stream.

[Special K 0]

Yeah, Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts didn't sell well at all.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Yeah neither did Jak, Medal of Honor: Frontline, or any of the Twisted Metal Black games mentioned..