Immersion has agreed to settle a long-standing legal dispute with Microsoft over the "rumble" feature of its Xbox controllers.
The software giant was sued in 2002 over the alleged patent infringement and then agreed to pay Immersion $26 million USD to settle out of court.
Immersion also sued Sony over the same issue and the suit was resolved last year with Sony agreeing to pay Immersion $22.5 million over the next three years and almost $100 million in royalties and patent license fees.
However, making the news today is the fact that Immersion's settlement with Microsoft included a clause that the software giant would receive a slice of of any settlement with Sony, with a minimum of $15 million USD as the payout. Because Immersion felt their deal with Sony did not trigger the clause they refused to pay Microsoft. Microsoft then sued and have now won.
"We are pleased to resolve our outstanding dispute with Microsoft and to put this litigation behind us," said Immersion president and chief executive Clent Richardson.
"We are pleased to have reached a resolution to our legal dispute with Immersion that includes a $20.75 million payment to Microsoft," Steve Aeschbacher, an associate general counsel for Microsoft, in a statement. "We are gratified that we have successfully resolved our claims under the 2003 settlement we negotiated with Immersion, which provided benefits to both companies and specific rights to Microsoft."
Immersion also sued Sony over the same issue and the suit was resolved last year with Sony agreeing to pay Immersion $22.5 million over the next three years and almost $100 million in royalties and patent license fees.
However, making the news today is the fact that Immersion's settlement with Microsoft included a clause that the software giant would receive a slice of of any settlement with Sony, with a minimum of $15 million USD as the payout. Because Immersion felt their deal with Sony did not trigger the clause they refused to pay Microsoft. Microsoft then sued and have now won.
"We are pleased to resolve our outstanding dispute with Microsoft and to put this litigation behind us," said Immersion president and chief executive Clent Richardson.
"We are pleased to have reached a resolution to our legal dispute with Immersion that includes a $20.75 million payment to Microsoft," Steve Aeschbacher, an associate general counsel for Microsoft, in a statement. "We are gratified that we have successfully resolved our claims under the 2003 settlement we negotiated with Immersion, which provided benefits to both companies and specific rights to Microsoft."
