The Microsoft Empire Strikes Back - Article

by Pat Fass , posted on 19 June 2007 / 1,252 Views

June 18th - You'd have to be living under a rock in the farthest reaches of Siberia to have not heard about the legal wrangling that's occurred over the past few years between Immersion Corporation (makers of rumble technology found in most videogame controllers), Sony, and Microsoft. But, for those people that may, in fact, have actually missed the story, the short version is that Immersion sued (and settled) with both Sony and Microsoft on the grounds of patent infringement for using rumble in their controllers. And so, the story should have ended as Microsoft came to agreement nearly four years ago and now Sony having recently done the same.

In an ironic twist, however, Immersion now finds themselves in the role of defendant as Microsoft has announced their intention to sue based on a breach of the settlement agreement they had once forged.

Steve Aeschbacher, an attorney for Microsoft, is quoted as saying, "We entered into a binding licensing agreement with Immersion and are seeking to have that agreement honored. Microsoft licenses technology both in and out and relies on these agreements to be honored and enforced. Our request to the court is that all companies and industry partners should play by the same rules and that the binding agreement we signed with Immersion be honored."

While no specifics have been given as of yet and Immersion has not made an official announcement at this point, the plot line is as intriguing as ever. Will the case proceed to court? Will Microsoft exact an ounce of revenge? What loopholes might come to surface in the Sony settlement? The saga continues...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6172674.html

22 Comments

princess (on 19 February 2009)

DaveTheOne (on 23 June 2007)

Furthermore.............
Massive Failure Rate For Xbox 360 Exposed

By David Richards | Thursday | 21/06/2007
Retailers are claiming that Microsoft has had to handle a failure rate of over 30% with their Xbox 360 console.

The Link:

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Home/D3Q7G8S2?page=1

Chubear (on 21 June 2007)

euclid says:
why is it that nintendo never had to settle with immersion?

Nintendo did settle out of court the same time Microsoft did.

grimygunz (on 21 June 2007)

but after they settled sony payed to liscense the rumble tech for future use. This is why people are expecting rumble sixaxis controllers and other products in the future. (expect a offical sony rumble stearing wheel for Gran Turismo 5 and rumble sixaxis for before or with MGS4)

leo-j (on 19 June 2007)

Sony will probably not release the new redisgned controllers, they cant make there on rumble becuz the technology is liscensed under immersion this sucks.

Bodhesatva (on 19 June 2007)

Immersion is being sued for breach of contract. They allegedly signed a contract with Microsoft, specifically detailing that any future settlement with Sony yields 15 million dollars for Microsoft.

Immersion is apparently claiming this isn't a "settlement," calling it an "agreement" or something else. Microsoft is saying that this is legal double talk, and Immersion needs to pay up.

Rob Feature (on 19 June 2007)

So... is Immersion being sued for not suing someone else?

Bodhesatva (on 19 June 2007)

TalonMan: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070618-microsoft-to-immersion-you-owe-us-for-the-sony-settlement.html

babycakes33 (on 19 June 2007)

redspear (on 19 June 2007)

Nintendo was never a named party in the case...Well at least when I was working on it they weren't.

Gamerace (on 19 June 2007)

To my knowledge, Nintendo was the first with Rumble, with Star Fox 64 I believe, as an add-on cartridge. With the next generation of systems (ps2, etc), it became a standard feature. Nintendo owns it's own rumble technology and isn't in patent conflict with Immersion.

lenardo (on 19 June 2007)

Microsoft's Contract on settling with immersion

specifically states that is immersion and sony settle, immersion Has to pay

15 million if the settlement is under 100 million

a certain percentage + the 15 million from 100+mill to 150 mill
a higher percentage + the 15 mill if over 150 mill

immersion settled with sony for a reported 97 million

immersion owes- by Contract- microsoft 15 million dollars

Erik Aston (on 19 June 2007)

So did Nintendo first develop rumble, or did Immersion?

yaya0013 (on 19 June 2007)

Love M$ tactic if you cannot beat them sue them or try and out spend them in everyway possible

godf (on 19 June 2007)

Didn't nintendo already own a stake/ have an agreement?

euclid (on 19 June 2007)

why is it that nintendo never had to settle with immersion?

shams (on 19 June 2007)

Microsoft should have bought them, and made them internal. Then no rumble for Sony, unless they want to pay MS a bunch of money...

DarkD (on 19 June 2007)

There is a theory on this. When Microsoft and Immersion settled, Microsoft gave them a lot of money and asked for a stake in the company as well. So the theory is that now that they have settled with Sony, Microsoft should receive a portion of the money from the Sony settlement.

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euclid says: why is it that nintendo never had to settle with immersion?

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euclid says:
why is it that nintendo never had to settle with immersion?