Sony Ordered to Pay in PlayStation Case

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp.'s video game unit has been ordered to pay $90.7 million in damages to Immersion Corp. over a patent infringement lawsuit related to a controller for

Monday, March 28th 2005, 9:31 am

By: News On 6

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp.'s video game unit has been ordered to pay $90.7 million in damages to Immersion Corp. over a patent infringement lawsuit related to a controller for Sony's PlayStation consoles, the company said Monday.

The Tokyo-based company plans to appeal the decision by the federal district court in Oakland, Calif., a Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

In the decision issued Thursday, Sony Computer Entertainment was ordered to pay damages to Immersion Corp., a San Jose, Calif., company which develops and licenses digital technology.

In a 2002 lawsuit, Immersion accused Sony of patent infringement with the Dual Shock controller for the PlayStation and PlayStation2. Dual Shock technology makes the controller shake in time with what's going on in the game.

Sony denies that Dual Shock violates Immersion's patents, the spokesman said. He said he could not give more details because the lawsuit is pending.

The district court decision included an order to suspend PlayStation sales, but that order does not hold while an appeal is being heard. Sony will continue to sell its game machines in the United States, the spokesman said.

Sony's PlayStation platform is the No. 1 home game console in the world.