Sony ordered to stop selling PSX and PS2 controllers??

[Brent L]

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)

Did this come out of nowhere, or have I just not heard anything about this?

[Giantrobo]

Why just Sony? Aren't all the "shock" controllers the same basic design? I think I saw a comment from a reader saying Microsoft got nailed too. But many companies make "shock" controllers now. :confused:

[Chris_D]

From memory, Microsoft paid them out, while Sony refused to. I don't know about Nintendo..

[JoCo]

I thought I read some where that Microsoft bought the company or somethinh.

[jeffdsmith]

http://www.pspondering.com/
More Bad News for Sony

While people speculate that sales of the PSP has been soft, today brings more bad news for Sony & the Playstation. A U.S. District Court in Oakland, California has ordered Sony to stop selling the Dual Shock controller and 40+ games that use it's vibration technology.

So can you still buy a PS2 today? Yes, word is the order has been stayed. Someone has posted the staying order here. The court's web server seems to be having trouble .

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.

[WOWZY]

I thought I read some where that Microsoft bought the company or somethinh.

I thought that I read that too. If it's true, now that would be hilarious if the $90million was going into MS pockets. :D

That's alot of PS2 sales $ going to the darkside.

:D

[darkside]

MS didn't buy them, but I believe they agreed to pay the licensing fee for the technology. I think Nintendo must have developed their vibration controller differently because they were not part of the lawsuit.

So I'm guessing now would be a good time to get an extra Dual Shock 2.

[jeffdsmith]

MS didn't buy them, but I believe they agreed to pay the licensing fee for the technology. I think Nintendo must have developed their vibration controller differently because they were not part of the lawsuit.

So I'm guessing now would be a good time to get an extra Dual Shock 2.


I believe Nintendo paid for it up front years ago when they released the Rumble pack for N64. I recall reading about Nintendo paying for the rumble pack. Sony then countered releasing their dual shock controller obviously not doing their homework. MS had the same mistake.

[ChrisHicks]

so what does this mean when all stock dries up and you need a new controller?

[Bluebomber]

so what does this mean when all stock dries up and you need a new controller?


I imagine they'll be sold on ebay for years to come brand new so no worries there.

[spainlinx0]

Better start ebaying your controllers as OOP. Bet you can make a killing now. ;)

[KJB2]

Funny, yes, but not far from the truth. While I would think that Sony would cough up the required $ in order to make this go away, you never know. So if anyone wants any of the stuff connected with this, it might be a good idea to grab it now, before the Ebay speculators vacuum every bit of stock off of shelves.

More interestingly, what could this mean for upcoming games that might use this technology . . .?

[Chris_D]

I don't get the 40 plus games bit. I mean aren't there hundreds of ps1/ps2 games that use the functionality in some way? Or was the newspaper article just being oddly conservative. Is there some special way that the dual shock is used in a game that violates the patent..

[fujishig]

Is it the controllers that are the problem or the games that utilize these features? If it's the former, aren't Madcatz, Logitech, etc. liable as well? If it's the latter aren't game companies liable? Really, how can you patent something like this anyway?

I'm surprised someone didn't patent the D-pad or analog stick, or trigger buttons.

[azeledge]

fyi, if you look at a lot of the 3rd party controllers, a lot of them have the Immersion Techonolgy symbol on them. So it looks like they paid for the license.

[Derrich]

I think Nintendo did patent the '+' Dpad, which is why other consoles have similar, but different pads (PS has separate arrow buttons, Xbox and Genesis have a circle)

D

[RocShemp]

So no controller or games that use the function? Does this mean alot of games I'm waiting for a price drop will go OOP?

[PixyJunket]

So no controller or games that use the function? Does this mean alot of games I'm waiting for a price drop will go OOP?Doubtful.. although I'm sure we'll see plenty of "eXXXtreme BANNED PS2 controller!! L@@K!" auctions on eBay soon enough.

[fujishig]

fyi, if you look at a lot of the 3rd party controllers, a lot of them have the Immersion Techonolgy symbol on them. So it looks like they paid for the license.

If this is true, than Sony really, really screwed up...

[RocShemp]

Doubtful.. although I'm sure we'll see plenty of "eXXXtreme BANNED PS2 controller!! L@@K!" auctions on eBay soon enough.

Well that I can live with. I already have two Dual Shock controllers and Logitech is soon to send me a replacement for my Cordless Action controller. But I'm glad the games will still be around as quite a few (like Final Fantasy X-2) have finally come into my price range and I'm still waitng on a few others.

[Michael Ballack]

I was about to trade my PS2 in to either EB or gamestop, do you think they'll take it now? If I only did this last week. damn it.

[DodgingCars]

Some reports say they've been ordered to halt console sales (however, they are still able to sell everything while they appeal).

[PixyJunket]

I was about to trade my PS2 in to either EB or gamestop, do you think they'll take it now? If I only did this last week. damn it.Save yourself some dignity and money and put it on eBay.

[Michael Ballack]

How much could I make off of it on Ebay? It works fine, came with 2 controllers, the only defect it has is that one of the front top corners chipped off. It's not noticeable from medium to far away. Should I sell it with some of the games I have like the grand theft auto series or sell the games seperately? I've bought things before on ebay, but I guess I'm a little scared to sell something. Any tips or wisdom I'd greatly appreciate.

[Mopower]

I was about to trade my PS2 in to either EB or gamestop, do you think they'll take it now? If I only did this last week. damn it.


I'll give you $40 for it. That's way more than they would give you.

I sold my PS2 (which I am regretting) and 4 shitty games for $180. So there are dumb enough people out there that you will probably sell yours for a good amount.

[DealMan]

Blockbuster Gamerush pays $80 for normal PS2s and $100 for slim ones, but it's store credit only.