Will Sony Have to Stop Selling PlayStations?

[cornbread]

Source PC World:


Will Sony Have to Stop Selling PlayStations?

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

A U.S. court ordered Sony Computer Entertainment to pay Immersion $90.7 million for patent infringement of touch feedback technology used in PlayStation games consoles, said court documents. The court also ordered a halt to U.S. sales of infringing PlayStation-brand consoles and 47 software titles as part of a patent-infringement lawsuit, but put the order on-hold pending an appeal.

The rulings from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Thursday are the results of a lawsuit filed in 2002 by San Jose-based Immersion against Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Microsoft.

In the suit Immersion alleged that the three defendants had infringed on its patents covering haptic--or touch--feedback. Microsoft licensed Immersion's technology in 2003 but Sony decided to fight on.

In the rulings, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken ordered Sony and its U.S. unit to pay $82 million for infringement of U.S. patents 6,424,333 and 6,275,213 and an interest payment of $8.7 million. The court denied a counter-claim from Sony for a declaration of non-infringement, according to the judgment.

The court also enjoined SCEI from manufacturing, using, selling, and/or importing into the U.S. infringing PlayStation consoles, Dualshock controllers, and 47 games that were found to infringe one or both of the patents.
On Hold

However, this injunction was put on hold in response to a counter-motion from Sony. The court said it stayed the order after consideration of Sony's chances of winning an appeal against the injunction, damage to Sony and Immersion that such a stay would cause and also the public interest, said the judgement. Sony was also ordered to pay a license for products already in the marketplace and those subsequently sold.

Sony was disappointed by the decision but intends to fight the injunction, said Daisuke Nakata, a spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo.

Immersion could not be immediately reached for comment.

The games listed in the judgement are: A Bug's Life; Amplitude; Ape Escape; Atlantis: The Lost Empire; Bloody Roar 2; Cool Boarders 3, 4, and 2001; Crash Bash; Crash Team Racing; Draken: The Ancients' Gate; Emperor's New Groove; Extermination; FantaVision; Final Fantasy X; Formula One 2001; The Getaway; Gran Turismo 1, 2 and 3; Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and 3; Grind Session; ICO; Jak & Daxter; Kinetica; Kingdom Hearts; Legend of the Dragon; The Mark of Kri; Medal of Honor Frontline; Medieval 2; Metal Gear Solid 2; Monsters Inc.; Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus; SOCOM Navy Seals; Speed Punks; Spyro; Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon; Stuart Little 2; Syphon Filter 2, and 3; Tony's Hawk's Pro Skater 3; Twisted Metal: Black, 4 and Small Brawl; Treasure Planet; and War of the Monsters.

 

[Niku-Sama]

thats dumb....gran turismo 1 2 and 3 but NOT 4 and GTA 3, and VC but NOT San Andreas?

i claim BS on this lawsuit....it doesent stack up

 

[techun]

..i didnt follow most of that..but my perfect socom is on that list..

 

[jadakada]

no, they have a permanent hold on the injunction which means they can still sell everything untill the appeals process goes through, but sony will have to pay the company they are trying to rip off for every controller and game that they are supposed to make money off anyways. This DOES NOT effect actuall PS2 systems though, only games and devices that used the "touched feedback" system that everyone knows as dual shock or rumble features. If I were Sony I would have settled like Microsoft did. And I don't think they are making PS2's anymore neways, Arn't all factories making PSP's now?

 

[deception``]

thats dumb....gran turismo 1 2 and 3 but NOT 4 and GTA 3, and VC but NOT San Andreas?

i claim BS on this lawsuit....it doesent stack up

What do you mean BS? You honestly cannot say that you have sifted through all the legalities of the litigation....and until you do so, your thoughts are nothing more than guessing.

By the way, Sony has already lost this case (they have the option to appeal), so obviously somebody disagreed with you here

deception``

 

[9mmCensor]

Sony will just have to liscence the technology.

 

[deception``]

no, they have a permanent hold on the injunction which means they can still sell everything untill the appeals process goes through, but sony will have to pay the company they are trying to rip off for every controller and game that they are supposed to make money off anyways. This DOES NOT effect actuall PS2 systems though, only games and devices that used the "touched feedback" system that everyone knows as dual shock or rumble features. If I were Sony I would have settled like Microsoft did. And I don't think they are making PS2's anymore neways, Arn't all factories making PSP's now?

It does affect actual PS2 systems (in addition to peripherals)...that was the entire purpose of the lawsuit. But the PSP is not part of the lawsuit.

The Oakland, California, court also ordered an injunction stating that Sony is to immediately stop selling the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, both versions of the Dual Shock controllers, and 47 games found to use the vibration technology, including Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Gran Turismo 3. The injunction only affects sales in the United States.

deception``

 

[jadakada]

Microsoft did the smart thing and settled out of court, now Microsoft holds 10% of the shares in the company that just tried to sue them, and are lauphing at sony because they would get some of the money Sony would have to pay up.

heres the article I read

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/28/news_6121137.html

 

[jadakada]

woops, ur right deception``, I misread... thanks for correcting me

 

[Blackmage]

yeah, sony will get some deal out of this i mean like 97million does hurt, hurts so much i wish i had 1million!

 

[wizard james]

lol, well.. its not much money to them.. i think they could dish out 500 mill and still be safe

 

[Niku-Sama]

What do you mean BS? You honestly cannot say that you have sifted through all the legalities of the litigation....and until you do so, your thoughts are nothing more than guessing.

By the way, Sony has already lost this case (they have the option to appeal), so obviously somebody disagreed with you here

deception``

thats was just an example...there are more than 47 games that use dual shock stuff

 

[doublejack]

There are several potential reasons why not every dual shock game is listed:

1. You have to consider that the legal process moves slowly. So it's entirely possible that the games beyond the 47 mentioned in the suit were released after it was filed with the courts. This suit was probably filed a year or two (or more) ago. In some circumstances a judge will allow additional claims to be added to a case, but most of the time it either requires a second lawsuit or the parties settle on the additional infractions based on the outcome of the first suit. This is the most likely explanation.

2. The company suing Sony may have intentionally left some games off the list so they could attempt a second lawsuit in the event that they lose this one. You can't sue for the same infraction twice, but games outside of the 47 listed in the suit would be considered as 'additional offences' in the legal world even though they use the same technology.

You see the same thing when serial killers are indicted sometimes. If only one conviction is needed to put someone away for life (or have them put to death) then why not go for that and hold the other cases in 'reserve' in the event that the killer is somehow found not guilty?

One may ask, why bother because if they lost the first suit wouldn't they lose a second suit too? The answer is, no - not necessarily. Maybe they would file the second suit in a different state for example, or a different Federal district. That means a different judge, which could mean a different outcome.

3. The final reason I can think of is maybe the games not listed were either accidentally / unintentionally omitted or sales were too low to warrant bothering with their inclusion. I really doubt either of these are the case but I'm including them for the sake of completeness.