Sony appeals in case of Immersion technology

Sony appeals in case of technology used in Playstation 2 gaming console

Entertainment industry giants Sony has said that they would appeal a US court ruling that found the Japanese giant infringed on a small US firm’s patent over its hot-selling PlayStation. Sony is due to launch the latest edition of Playstation (Sony Playstation 3) later this year and if they lose this appeal, they might suffer huge losses due to this patent infringement.

A US District Court had sometime back Sony’s appeal of a ruling that said they illegally used technology patented by game machine developer Immersion. A representative of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), Sony’s video game unit said in a statement: “But we still believe that we have not infringed on Immersion’s patents. We have already appealed to a US Court of Appeals and procedures there are under way.”

The company has also made it clear that they currently have no plans for an out of court settlement to get rid of the lawsuit. Immersion had accused Sony of stealing their technology used in the “Dual Shock” feature present on the controller of the Sony Playstation 2 gaming console. This feature would also be there on the upcoming Sony Playstation 3 console due to be out later this year.

The courts had ordered Sony last year to pay damages worth around 90 million dollars to Immersion and halt sales of blockbuster PlayStation consoles in the United States. It was later stayed when Sony appealed against the ruling in the court.