Sony sued over Blu-ray
California company alleges patent infringements in PS3 maker's latest optical disc technology.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot Posted May 24, 2007 3:52 pm PT
Given its global position as an electronics giant, Sony is quite familiar with patent law. The company is also quite familiar with the potential penalties for running afoul of patent law, as evidenced by the $97 million in damages and interest it had to pay Immersion Corporation in a dispute over the rumble functions in Dual Shock controllers.
While the two companies have since patched things up, Sony opted to leave rumble by the wayside when it was designing the PlayStation 3's motion-sensing Sixaxis controller. The electronics giant couldn't avoid patent headaches entirely, however, as Irvine, California-based Target Technology Company filed suit earlier this month, seeking damages for alleged patent violations relating to the Blu-ray technology used in the system.
The suit, which names Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sony Pictures, and Sony DADC, claims that products marketed under the Blu-ray name infringe on a patent it owns for reflective layer materials in optical discs. The patent addresses what Target called a need for specific types of silver-based alloys with the advantages (but not the price) of gold. According to the patent, the alloys are also more resistant to corrosion than pure silver. The patent was filed in April of 2004 and granted in March of 2006.
Target is seeking a permanent injunction preventing Sony from violating its patent rights in the future, as well as damages with interest, multiplied due to what it characterizes as deliberate and willful infringement.
Neither Sony representatives nor Target attorneys had returned GameSpot's requests for comment as of press time.
BURN!Sony's marketing tool/blog Three Speech opened up the opinion floodgates on its web site, seeking feedback from European PLAYSTATION 3 owners on their first two months with the system. While the Three Speech team may have kicked it off with great enthusiasm—"Tell us how you're getting on with it! Any surprises that have turned up along the way?!"—its readers were quick to tell them exactly how they felt.
There's plenty of much deserved love for Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man and the PS3 hardware itself, but UK gamers weren't holding back on the criticism. It's the same old story; too expensive, not enough games, the PlayStation Store is a content wasteland. In general, it's fairly civil (until the UK: Resistance readership shows up to make things more interesting) and full of quality feedback that is hopefully taken to heart.
All that remains now is the long wait for October when Half-Life 2: Orange Box (hopefully) sees release on PC and 360. For PS3 owners, the wait will be even longer and possibly into 2008.
it'll be interesting, they've ****ed up badly before and might have done it again. Just to note though, someone tried to sue me once cause they said I was breaking contract for working for another company they did business for, when I said I was fine to go to court, they suddenly stopped threatening litigation
old http://forums.sohh.com/showthread.php?t=854953
it'll be interesting, they've ****ed up badly before and might have done it again. Just to note though, someone tried to sue me once cause they said I was breaking contract for working for another company they did business for, when I said I was fine to go to court, they suddenly stopped threatening litigation
fair enough but here was also a german company who tried to sue a lot of DVD conglamerates for stealing their idea way back.. it was some multilayered crap..
but with sony's track record this could really **** them.. we'll see.
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LOL Sony
