Tweet
In late September, when Sony was ordered to pay $82 million in damages and license fees to Immersion Corporation. At that point, Sony had 60-90 days to appeal the decision.
It appears the appeal process has finished it's first round (I'm not sure how many appeals are allowed in such cases), and the new ruling actually will end up costing Sony more than the initial ruling of $82 million. The new ruling forces Sony to pay 1.37% of revenues, per quarter, from sales of the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles that shipped with Dual Shocks and Dual Shock 2 controllers; and the same 1.37% on revenues from at least 40 PSOne/PS2 games named in the suit. Although the information was not readily available, it is safe to assume that Sony will most likely be paying the same 1.37% on revenues from sales of the Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 controllers for the PSOne and PS2 respectively, especially since the patent was about the rumble feature in the Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 controllers.
The license is to be paid backdated to July 1, 2004; and will continue to be paid each quarter henceforth according to the ruling. This is expected to cost Sony around $27 million per year. If sales of the PS2 go as strong as sales of the PSOne did after the launch of the PS3, then Sony will be paying this for quite a while.
We do not know if this has caused Sony to rethink their controller design for the PlayStation 3 or not, or if they will just continue to use the technology and pay the 1.37% licese fee on every PS3 sold.
Microsoft was initially named in the suit as well, but settled out of court. Microsoft also ended up becoming a 10% owner of Immersion Corporation from the deal.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
It appears the appeal process has finished it's first round (I'm not sure how many appeals are allowed in such cases), and the new ruling actually will end up costing Sony more than the initial ruling of $82 million. The new ruling forces Sony to pay 1.37% of revenues, per quarter, from sales of the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles that shipped with Dual Shocks and Dual Shock 2 controllers; and the same 1.37% on revenues from at least 40 PSOne/PS2 games named in the suit. Although the information was not readily available, it is safe to assume that Sony will most likely be paying the same 1.37% on revenues from sales of the Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 controllers for the PSOne and PS2 respectively, especially since the patent was about the rumble feature in the Dual Shock and Dual Shock 2 controllers.
The license is to be paid backdated to July 1, 2004; and will continue to be paid each quarter henceforth according to the ruling. This is expected to cost Sony around $27 million per year. If sales of the PS2 go as strong as sales of the PSOne did after the launch of the PS3, then Sony will be paying this for quite a while.
We do not know if this has caused Sony to rethink their controller design for the PlayStation 3 or not, or if they will just continue to use the technology and pay the 1.37% licese fee on every PS3 sold.
Microsoft was initially named in the suit as well, but settled out of court. Microsoft also ended up becoming a 10% owner of Immersion Corporation from the deal.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz