So anybody who keeps up with this sort of thing knows that Sony hasn't
been doing very well lately,financially speaking.Not to mention all the
talks of problems with "Cell" & "Blu Ray" being
finalized and ready for production.So the last thing the company needs
is more bad news.Unfortunately it looks as though that's what their
getting.
If anyone remembers,a while back there was the story about a small company that was responsible for inventing the "rumble"
technology that is in all game controllers now.The company was sueing
Sony & Microsoft for copyright infringement since both companies
were using the tech in their pads without ever asking or buying
permission to do so.
Well Microsoft settled out of court with the company and even bought
some stock in it.Sony on the other hand,being the hardheaded ass company
that they are,fought it.Now I'm not sure what grounds Sony thought they
could argue, but apparently it didn't work.There is an artcle on it
over at jostiq.com.Here is what it says:
"Just to bring you up to speed: Immersion, a company specializing
in haptic technology, in 2003 sued both Sony and Microsoft for patent
infringement, claiming both companies used Immersion's intellectual
property (IP) in their console's controllers. Microsoft settled out of
court (buying a share of Immersion in the process), but Sony fought on.
Sony lost, and the judge ruled that Sony must suspend the sale of
"Playstation consoles, Dualshock controllers," and a few dozen games,
including Vice City, Final Fantasy X, and Metal Gear Solid 2. Sony filed
for appeal, and has been allowed to sell all aforementioned products
while the decision is under appeal.
The Wall Street Journal this morning reports that a federal judge
rejected Sony's appeal and upheld the earlier decision (which also
includes a $90.7 million payment by Sony to Immersion). Sony argued that
Craig Thorner, a former paid consultant to Immersion, submitted
testimony on Sony's behalf. However, US District Judge Claudia Wilken
noted that Thorner was an "unreliable" witness, citing "strong evidence"
that suggest Thorner's testimony was directly affected by the $150,000
Sony had paid him as "advance royalty" to license Thorner's patents in
the future.
It seems very ridiculous that Sony would have to halt production on its
flagship console, as well as most of the company's best-selling titles,
but that may very well be the case here. Could this be a reason for
Sony's (conceptual) "boomerang" PS3 controller? If the PlayStation 3
cannot utilize its force feedback technology from the past, how is this
going to affect backwards compatibility? Chalk this up as another issue
for Sony, alongside Cell processor issues, Blu-ray issues, delay rumors,
and more than a few ad campaigns that have backfired."
It'll be interesting to see this turns out.
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