Microsoft and Nintendo keep up with Sony, get sued for controller patents

These days you're hardly participating in the electronic gaming industry if nobody is accusing you of stealing from their supa' secret stash of controller design patents. Microsoft and Nintendo have been lagging behind Sony lately, but the pair of them just got a nice big lawsuit which should have their respective controller design teams grinning with pride. The suit comes courtesy of Anascape Ltd, a Texas firm that is accusing Microsoft and Nintendo of breaching a whole slew of patents. The offenses include patents for "Variable Conductance Sensor," "Game Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor," "Variable Conductance Sensor with Elastomeric Dome Cap," "Remote Controller with Analog Button," "Image Controller with Sheet Connected Sensors," "Game Control with Analog Pressure Sensor," "Variable Sensor with Tactile Feedback," "Analog Controls Housed with Electronic Displays," "Variable Conductance Sensor" (again), "Remote Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor," "Analog Sensor with Snap Through Tactile Feedback," and "3D Controller with Vibration." Yeah, we have no idea what most of those are all about, but with this many patents floating around, this lawsuit is shaping into a nice bit of summer fun.

[Chris @ Aug 4th 2006 12:08PM]

Oops! Delayed the PS3 again! awwww

[Masterjuan @ Aug 4th 2006 12:19PM]

lol

[Ryan @ Aug 4th 2006 12:22PM]

This is ridiculous. When will the madness stop?

"Hey, your controller has buttons! We invented buttons!"

[Ryan @ Aug 4th 2006 12:23PM]

:P

[Ryan @ Aug 4th 2006 12:26PM]

Is it just me, or are controller patents just a bunch of BS? I remember when I found out that Nintendo had patented the D-pad. That's right, THE D-PAD! No one else was allowed to have a plus shaped directional pad. Remember how Sega's was round, Sony's was 4 separate "buttons"....etc (even though they were all the same underneath). Sheesh!

[CharlieX @ Aug 4th 2006 12:32PM]

I patent lamp!

[James @ Aug 4th 2006 12:33PM]

Delayed the PS3 again? Maybe you didn't read. Sony is not involved in the lawsuit at all. Anascape is filing claims against M$ and Nintendo. Go take your anti-Sony somewhere else instead of looking like an idiot.

(I'm not pro-Sony, but I at least read)

[K0llateral @ Aug 4th 2006 12:37PM]

This is stupid and ridiculous. They're just making stuff up now. How far will this go in the future?

[Walkin' @ Aug 4th 2006 12:46PM]

Sounds like a patent squatter. I don't think this one will stick.

[KawF @ Aug 4th 2006 12:52PM]

5 million shipped unis * let's see... $5...$50!

Sweet, my EVIL scheme is afoot!

Aren't patents just lovely? My bet though is that this patent is invalidated hastily or that another company aside from Immersion will suddenly find that they now have a set of new majority share-holders.

[Tony @ Aug 4th 2006 12:53PM]

So basicly, they're saying that they patent the modern video game controller... so no other console can have it.

This just in, Sony patents the user, so now no other company is allowed to have users play their systems... just Sony, yup, sounds about right.

[anta @ Aug 4th 2006 12:58PM]

"Oops! Delayed the PS3 again! awwww"

freaking learn to spell first and then post.

[SoSolid-US @ Aug 4th 2006 12:58PM]

This is really nonsense... Patents are good for one thing, and thats making sure that if you create a unique idea, that idea will stay yours and no-one will take the credit (earning) off of it. But when it comes to these types of patents, its really just BULLS..T! Next thing we know is that some idiot company will patent how we breathe and charge us all for use of our lungs...

[Jeff Foster @ Aug 4th 2006 1:01PM]

If you hold a patent, and do not do anything significant with it within 6 months, it should expire. totally, with no renewal process. Patents were originally meant to encourage innovation and technological progress, by offering the original creator of an idea a certain timeframe in which to make money, before the idea is stolen (adapted) and used more widely to benefit the larger population.

Now all Patents seem to be good for is anti-competitive garbage, stupid squatters looking for a quick buck off someone else's work, and stifling innovation. ...we need to re-wite copyright and patent laws to work FOR innovation instead of being a tool AGAINST it.

[AJ @ Aug 4th 2006 1:05PM]

Ryan, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis controller was a D-pad... I don't recall it being round.

I just always used the awesome Sega Arcade Powerstick though :)

[Andy Briggs @ Aug 4th 2006 1:10PM]

What a waste of lawyers time. Keeps the courts busy I suppose...(too busy)!

To Engadget - Very nice controller, but I challenge you to make a more realistic looking one than mine in less than 2 minutes (which is what it took me).
http://img351.imageshack.us/img351/6971/wiimotemo1.png

Take a look, tell me what you think (I know it's a bit lop-sided...) :D

[mark @ Aug 4th 2006 1:11PM]

I patent the use of plastic in a controller.

[3 URLs @ Aug 4th 2006 1:16PM]

I just remembered, I patented plastic. Im off to file a lawsuit.

[Sean @ Aug 4th 2006 1:17PM]

anta,

Although the post is heavy with anti-Sony rhetoric, perhaps you should also remove your blinders and realize that the post was devoid of spelling errors. Idiot.

Stop. Correcting. Grammar. &. Spelling. Errors. This is just a blog, not an essay you tool.

[Wilson @ Aug 4th 2006 1:19PM]

You can thank USA patent laws, and your courts that let pretty much anyone sue anyone else for any stupid reason they want... I bet that company in texas doesn't even make anything, other than buying old patents so they can continue suing people...

[All Your Lost Socks @ Aug 4th 2006 1:49PM]

There we go. Patent everything that you use to make a controller. Oh noes, we will all have to draw our Nintendo games in the mud with sticks now...
What exactly makes them think that this is going to do anything? All three console makers have been using just about EVERY SINGLE ONE of those features so far, not to mention third parties. Sheesh.

[All Your Lost Socks @ Aug 4th 2006 1:51PM]

Oh, I forgot to add - my favourite is "Variable Conductance Sensor with Elastomeric Dome Cap". Does that make anyone else think of something in particular? ;P

[Nick @ Aug 4th 2006 1:52PM]

Companies don't buy patents just to sue people, they do it so that they are the rightful owners of the patent and technology and therefore can make millions when companies like MS and Nintendo and Sony license the technology for their products. Just because they don't make any products does not mean that they don't have a rightful claim to the technology.

[Ben18 @ Aug 4th 2006 1:59PM]

His post had no spelling errors, maybe you should learn how to read first. On another note, these cases and patents are beginning to irritate me. I simply despise the notion that you can patent anything. When something can be used in a market like video games, patent issues become frivolous. If the Nintendo Wii is a success, I suspect the other 2 big players will find ways to mimic it, and perhaps Sony already has to one extent or another, but who cares? It seems like if some company takes an idea and makes it better they are sued for taking that initial idea in the first place. I think patents sometimes hurt development, but that's just me. I'm sure if I was an inventor I'd feel differently.

[Antonio Cardenas @ Aug 4th 2006 2:04PM]

that sucks!... No, really

[BubbaLove @ Aug 4th 2006 2:18PM]

Variable Conductance Sensor with Elastomeric Dome Cap - why, that sounds like an analog stick! Variable conductance = pressure sensitive. Elastomeric Dome Cap = round, domed top to it, fools.

These lawsuits are pretty frivilous, IMHO, but look how MS paid up (and I think Nintendo as well) with the owners of the force feedback technology (Immersion? The same guys that ended up suing Sony). At most, they will probably get a few shut-up bucks so that MS and Nintendo can keep going on with their business.

[shirizaki @ Aug 4th 2006 2:26PM]

I'm going to be rich.

I'm gogint o start writing and patenting the most random ideas and patenting all of them. Then when a comapny releases something like it, I'm going to sue them for tons of money and settle.

Ah, the American dream: getting rich without doing alot of work.

[Keith @ Aug 4th 2006 2:54PM]

His dos had it spelling errors. My mamas teach me to red.

[Justin @ Aug 4th 2006 4:11PM]

I am going to patent a rubber vagina for use w/a console that includes force feedback!

[John @ Aug 4th 2006 4:53PM]

I'm sure I've seen numbers to back this up, but America is losing its competitive edge because so much money is used up on litigation that foreign competitors can use on R&D. In addition to patent reform there is a need for tort reform.

[Guruboy @ Aug 4th 2006 6:04PM]

All these lawsuits are complete bullshit. All of them. Sony and Nintendo have every right to cater to the consumer. These patents are bullshit. Microsoft less so because they have been in the console market shorter, but they still have every right to produce a controller for their own system. I would bet that no one even knows who owns these patents!

Whoever owns these patents needs to get fucked in the ass. They should release tho owners to a crowd of fanboys of all types (Sony, Nintendo, and MS) and allow anything to happen to them. This is complete bullshit.

[cory @ Aug 4th 2006 6:13PM]

Do you really patent lamp, CharlieX? Or are you just looking at things in the room and saying you patent them?

[Ectoplasm @ Aug 4th 2006 6:38PM]

Microsoft lives in court. And Nintendo is no stranger to litigation. Expect this to drag out a long time.

[wichenroder @ Aug 4th 2006 7:40PM]

Nice to see game guys taking this seriously, I mean, what is all this slander about the game generation? The Amerikan patent minefield trap is doing massive damage to the creative potential to the industry and you don't seem to be able to begin to comprehend it.

[Chris @ Aug 4th 2006 8:13PM]

Hey! I'm no "anti-sony". I was just commenting on how many times the PS3 has been delayed... over little things. That was my whole meaning on my comment.

[teknogreek @ Aug 4th 2006 8:37PM]

The patent issue in controller technology is like a politco-economical discussion about the console wars...

This hurts me to say it but follow what I say in terms of what was...!?!

MS=Sega... Controller beautiful but know that I can design a better control system for GSR ;)

PS3, weirdly the old boys playing the scale of economies game... mass adoption... this is a shadow of the Amiga ST "war" in that as HW gains yeilded by Sony profit ports of 360 games to be first developed for Sony and then graphical expression keeps in pace with game mechanics. Sonies absolute beleif in what is common and belonging to the public domain, so they copy Nintendo. Linux anybody...

Wii iremember how it was weird in that everysingle house I ever went into that had a PS had dualshocks, games with input devices will become common place, a £5 mass produced pheripheral can be reliable enough(?)

In two years I have a choice, spend 1000 on a new decent PC or 900 on all console systems?

[Tom @ Aug 4th 2006 9:02PM]

I patented "The Penis". The people suing Nintendo and Microsoft are a bunch of dicks... so I guess they owe me a royalty fee. ;)

[casey @ Aug 4th 2006 9:58PM]

Tom, ur a genius. Thats serious comedy lol.

My try:
I patent the alphabet. Sorry engadget but u've repeatedly infringed upon all 26 parts of my patent repeatedly in EVERY POST. You owe me... look the math would leave you dead, so just go hit up fort knox for me.

[Ronald J Riley @ Aug 4th 2006 11:23PM]

When large multinational companies like the ones who are members of the Coalition for Patent Piracy get away with taking inventors' work society loses far more than the inventor. Inventors have community ties and when they retain patent rights their communities benefit from job and tax base. When patent pirating coalition members take those inventions they ship them and the economic benefits to low wage countries.

Invention has always driven or economic system. Historically we made our money by producing our inventions. Today an ever increasing amount of the production is going to low wage countries. Our manufacturing infrastructure is falling apart.

We cannot maintain our standard of living except through profiting from our people's inventiveness. This is done through patents and other forms of intellectual property.

Those who rant against patents are really advocating allowing foreign interests and our own disloyal multinational corporations to take whatever they want and the inevitable effect of this is loss of jobs and prosperity. Open your eyes, the evidence is all around you. Large corporations in their short term greed are impoverishing all of us.

The only thing which stands between Americans standard of living being pulled down to China's and India's level are our inventors. If you think that transnational corporations care one whit about us you are in for a very rude awakening.

Ronald J Riley, President
Professional Inventors Alliance
www.PIAUSA.org
RJR"at"PIAUSA.org
Change "at" to @
RJR Direct # [phone]

also:

Ronald J Riley, Exec. Dir.
InventorEd, Inc.
www.InventorEd.org
RJR"at"InvEd.org
Change "at" to @

[Zac @ Aug 5th 2006 1:17AM]

I patent the wheel.



And heat.

[Tom @ Aug 5th 2006 3:19AM]

Hey, Ronald J Riley! Shut the hell up. This has nothing to do with protecting the rights of "the little guy". The patents in question were filed by Brad Armstrong, a guy from Texas who is the sole employee of a fictional company called "Anascape Ltd". This company has not invented a damn thing. This company has no online presence, and is only known (as any Google search will tell you) in the context of it patent lawsuits against two companies who actually make products for a living! Wonder why Sony wasn't targeted? Maybe because one of the patents was for a force feedback technology, granted in 2000, after it had already been in development for PS2. Another patent, granted in 1999, was for the mind-blowing concept of analog sticks, a technology that had already been available on the N64 for three years! While companies like Nintendo and Microsoft and Sony are busy building products and technologies that make gamers around the world happy, lame asshole patent squatters like Brad Armstrong are busy implementing their get-rich-quick schemes by manipulating America's broken patent system! He's not a member of the community; he's a CON MAN!!!

[Ronald J Riley @ Aug 5th 2006 7:58AM]

He also accepted the contract to disclose his inventions in exchange of an exclusive period of use. Producing such inventions often involves years of effort, and that effort often is equivalent to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. On top of that the inventor typically expends five to twenty thousand dollars to get the patent.

It takes at least two to four or more years to get a patent through the system. Obviously the inventor has to start the development process before they file the patent, and that typically is two to five years. This means that the inventor likely produced the invention long before any of the game companies.

Most of the time those ranting against patents are ignorant of both the patent system and the specifics of the patent. Oftentimes a patent is an improvement on an existing technology. So just because the picture or text describes in part an existing device does not mean that the claims cover what already existed. Generally the patent describes an improvement on what existed. In fact, improvements on existing technology is the essence of the inventive process.

No inventor likes litigation. Unfortunately companies, whole industries often decide they can defraud the inventor. Patent piracy is rampant and it is killing job creation which would come from these small companies. In this situation inventors have no choice except to sue.

How would each of you feel if you had made the kind of investment it takes to get one or more patents only to see well healed corporate crooks take your work? Each of you has the potential to become inventors, to perhaps found a company, and to become the next generation's success stories. Instead of resenting people like Brad Armstrong you should be cheering for him, studying and emulating him and other inventors. For those of you who want to take a crack at becoming a success story as an inventor visit www.InventorEd.org, start at www.InventorEd.org/novice/.

Once you start to make the grade there is a high probably that some crooked multinational corporation will try to pirate your invention. When you reach the point of licensing or commercialization you should join www.PIAUSA.org. We will be ready to help you fight those who try to steal your invention and we will defend you when you are attacked by those who lack the vision and tenacity to invent themselves.

Ronald J Riley, President
Professional Inventors Alliance
www.PIAUSA.org
RJR"at"PIAUSA.org
Change "at" to @
RJR Direct # [phone]

and:

Ronald J Riley, Exec. Dir.
InventorEd, Inc.
www.InventorEd.org
RJR"at"InvEd.org
Change "at" to @

[rockintom99 @ Aug 5th 2006 8:11AM]

I patent the use of protons! Ha! EVERYONE owes me money!

I will charge... half a cent per proton? I will be the richest man possible!

[Chakrisu @ Aug 5th 2006 8:24AM]

I think they should patent a "Cooling hole with a fan" and see what happens

[azero @ Aug 5th 2006 8:26AM]

sony lol.. u__u;;

sony used to be cool..

[bleh i'm just a name @ Aug 5th 2006 10:08AM]

What about the dreamcast? sega had pressure trigger buttons also I believe nintendo were the ones who created the analog stick. if i'm wrong so sue me.. oh wait no dont do that!

stupid smart lawyers they are preventing mankind for evolving at a fast rate because of this kind of crap. i hope this doesnt make wii delayed. >_>

[David @ Aug 5th 2006 1:17PM]

"When you reach the point of licensing or commercialization you should join www.PIAUSA.org. We will be ready to help you fight those who try to steal your invention and we will defend you when you are attacked by those who lack the vision and tenacity to invent themselves."

So 5-10 years down the line, or even more, when I finally decide to protect my vision and invention, you can help me sue some one too.

That's a load of crap.

If I came out now and said "Hey, guess what? I have a patent on LCD technology. Every company that uses it or makes stuff for it has to pay me money for every unit that they've made money from." So that would mean Westinghouse, Dell, Sony, LG, Samsung, Apple, Creative, iRiver, BenQ, Sharp, Panasonic, Phillips, Zenith, Polaroid, Canon, Toshiba, Hyundai, JVC, RCA, VW, Audi, GM, Ford, BMW, NEC, Viewsonic, Nintendo, Sega, Nokia, Ericsson, Gateway, CTX, Acer, Optiquest, HP, Compaq, Coby, Audiovox, TomTom, Garmin, Asus, HTC, Palm, etc... (take forever to list these people!) All the companies would owe me money, so much money that some would probably have to go out of business. And now the people who have the nice LCD displays in their homes, offices, or pockets, will have to wait for another technology to come out and/or pay twice as much for something they have.

You know, I'm all for making money and for new inventions and stuff, but I'm also down with the whole "You snooze, you lose" thing. People like him who sit on something that he knows have been used for years and just sat on his ass doing nothing to protect it in the first place... That's just a lazy ass who takes advantage of people.

You're not protecting an invention, just the vision, the vision of greedy, lazy people.

I hope you get cancer, and if you already have it, then I think you know what I hope for after that.

[Tom @ Aug 5th 2006 1:46PM]

"So just because the picture or text describes in part an existing device does not mean that the claims cover what already existed." ~ Ronald J Riley

Ummm, YES IT DOES. It's called Prior Art and it's part of the patent system. Sony had prior art claim over Brad Armstrong, just as Immersion has a prior art claim over Sony. So, again, shut the hell up you lying liar!

[Ronald J Riley @ Aug 5th 2006 2:57PM]

You say "stupid smart lawyers they are preventing mankind for evolving at a fast rate".

Many people like to bash lawyers but how many have thought about what we had before the idea of having lawyers represent each side. Before law as we know it you have trial by combat or a sovereign deciding who was right. It was brutal.

So whatever the deficiencies of our law system are it is still far better than what proceeded it.

As to "preventing mankind from evolving", that is also flat out wrong. What separates humanity for other life forms is our ability to pass on what has been learned in written form. This is exactly what a patent does. It discloses the invention. In the past you had guilds who kept their trade secret. This limited the ability of other to advance the art.

With patents the art is disclosed for all to see, and twenty years after filing (sooner in some cases) anyone can use the discovery for nothing. No one would disclose their inventions if not for the government's guarantee that the inventor can profit from their discovery of up to twenty years in exchange for putting considerable effort and money into getting a patent. So it is a fact that patent attorneys play a significant role with inventors to advance mankind's knowledge base.

It is important that all of you recognize that when peoples' inventions are stolen by large corporations that all citizens of the inventor's country are harmed in the form of a lower standard of living. When each of you endorse large corporation's theft of patents you are hurting your own long term interests.

Part of the reason for your misperception of the situation is that a group of not so savory corporations got together over the last few years and conducted a massive media campaign to paint the inventors whom they have victimized as bad players. Recently they have gone public as the "Coalition for Patent Fairness". We call them the Coalition for Patent Piracy. Some members of the coalition started as innovative companies but lost their edge a decade or two ago, while others like Microsoft or Dell with their incendiary notebooks have never been especially innovative. What they are is rather efficient predators. So as I see it the Coalition for Patent Piracy is made up of two major groups, one of which are washed up tech companies and the other are banks and insurance hucksters.

Ronald J Riley, President
Professional Inventors Alliance
www.PIAUSA.org
RJR"at"PIAUSA.org
Change "at" to @
RJR Direct # [phone]

and:

Ronald J Riley, Exec. Dir.
InventorEd, Inc.
www.InventorEd.org
RJR"at"InvEd.org
Change "at" to @

[SexualHarrassmentPanda @ Aug 5th 2006 5:00PM]

Panda is a sad bear............