SONY LOSES " DUALSHOCK" LAWSUIT

SONY SHAKEN AS IT LOSES " DUALSHOCK" LAWSUIT

Immersion wins $82 million in patent infringement lawsuit against the Japanese giant

17:11 Touch-related technology licensing and development company Immersion has won a patent infringement lawsuit against Sony and been awarded $82 million in a case initiated in 2002.

According to a report on USAToday.com, the case focused on Sony' s DualShock controllers and 47 videogame titles, products that Immersion, based in San Jose, claimed infringed on two of its patents relating to' vibro-tactile' technologies " that simulate the sense of touch in videogame play."

On Tuesday, a federal jury gave its verdict, agreeing that the Sony products in question infringed the Immersion patents and awarded the latter company $82 million - a sum that could have been tripled had the panel deemed the violations wilful.

Although happy with the verdict, Immersion had initially sought awards of $299 million when it first filed the patent infringement lawsuit in 2002.

" While the jury' s award is less than the amount we requested, we are pleased the jury found the patents valid and infringed," Immersion' s chief executive Victor Viegas told USAToday.com yesterday.

Stuart Bishop

Videogaming is the contemporary interactive pasttime.