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Sony sued over PS3 feedback patents

24 April 2009 21:32 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 5 comments

The inventor Craig Thorner, CEO of Virtual Reality Feedback, has sued Sony, PDP/Electro Source and multiple lawyers over the "theft" of intellectual property in relation to force feedback technology that is now used in PS3 DualShock 3 controllers.

Thorner says that Sony violated his trust by "failing to defend him and his patents against lawsuits from Immersion."

Immersion sued Sony and Microsoft over patent violations and suits and countersuits raged for years.

Electronista explains that "during Immersion's original lawsuit against Sony for violating patents with the original DualShock controller, he had originally licensed his patents to Immersion. Not being aware of a joint defense agreement between Sony and PDP, which was also sued by Immersion after Sony initially lost its case, Thorner switched his patent license to PDP. He claims that Sony unfairly exploited his unawareness of the defense deal with PDP and let him offer his patents for a too-low $150,000 when he would have been entitled to more."

Thorner also notes that he has a proof of a wire transfer from Sony to PDP for $150,000 USD which concealed Sony's involvement in the deal and was later passed on to Thorner.

Permalink to this article | Topic: Lawsuits & Legislation

Interesting Read: The origins of the PlayStation (26 April 2009)

Final Fantasy boosts PS3 Japan sales (25 April 2009)

Immersion to pay Microsoft over controller dispute (27 August 2008)

DualShock 3 gets approval from FCC (23 November 2007)

DualShock 3 with rumble finally confirmed for the PS3 (20 September 2007)

SIXAXIS rumble controller will feature 'Touch Sense'? (7 July 2007)

Nokia licenses touch screen technology to compete with iPhone (3 July 2007)

Microsoft sues Immersion for contract breach (19 June 2007)

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Discuss this article!
b18bek9 (Member) 25 April 2009 2:18
Sony worries about other ppl stealing their intellectual property yet its ok for them lol sounds about rite lol.... [ + quote]
varnull (Inactive) 25 April 2009 4:13
yeah.. isn't it. but his being "unaware" isn't an excuse.. he wants go pay some proper patent lawyers (leeches) like $ony does XD ... saying no more because I'm not allowed to comment on $ony on this site. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25 April 2009 4:15
Tecbot (Newbie) 25 April 2009 12:19
didn't Sony already pay 122.5 million if not more for the controller lawsuit to immersion...everyone is out to get rich off of a patent nowadays and its sounds right about Sony being sued like 20-30 times in the usa probably many people make a standard living by doing nothing except suing people there. I wish i would of took out a few patents myself on unlrelated things and made the conection probably better payouts than stocks if living in the usa. [ + quote]
blueboy09 (Newbie) 26 April 2009 2:12
WTF! Oh come on! These lawyers and their reps sound like a bunch of 5-year olds wanting a single piece of candy! SHEESH! Does it REALLY matter who got what as long as everyone is happy? Guess not. They need to go back to kindergarten where there apparently never grew up. Good grief!! - BLUEBOY [ + quote]
gcnath (Newbie) 31 July 2009 6:19
Sony PS3 is not supported globally. They try not to solve the problem of the consumer. In sep'08 I had bought a PS3 from Fortress in HongKong for my son. The same stopped working after 3/4 months. My attempt to get the same serviced in India failed as they do not service the same and they do not have any policy of replacing the same in India. So when you get a Sony product be careful and check the local market where you want to use whether they will support the same. My money went down the drain. In contrast, a company like Apple just changed my iPod Touch in their Service station in India though I purchased the same in New York. They even did not ask for the invoice/bill to prove the purchase. "Be Careful When you buy a SONY product". [ + quote]