Microsoft and Immersion heading to court... again

Looks like Microsoft, no slouch when it comes to lawsuits, is heading back to court for another round of player-hating, he-said-she-said proceedings with Immersion (no stranger to the court system itself). The case seems a two-way deal stemming from a 2002 Immersion patent infringement suit, in which Microsoft paid $26m to settle the case and buy a piece of the business; apparently Immersion hasn't honored a clause stating that Microsoft is to receive some change in the event that Immersion and Sony settle, and the folks in Redmond want retribution: $15m minimum. Immersion, of course, thinks it's not required to pay out any such cash, leading one enraged Microsoft rep to shout into a hanging mic, "We will show Immersion the meaning of rumble!" No, not really, but we'd certainly plunk down to see Microsoft and Immersion counsel duke it out in the square circle instead of a stodgy court room.

[Via Gamasutra]

[Rohit Kapur @ Jun 19th 2007 1:53PM]

Hey Joshua! New here?

We will show Immersion the meaning of rumble!"

Ha! That's gold, I tell ya!

Anyway, to be a bit more on topic, I'll never be sure whether I love or hate lawsuits. They can be so darn entertaining sometimes!

[JinKazama @ Jun 19th 2007 2:23PM]

Well that's interesting. It looks like MS "settled" in an attempt to stick it to Sony in that if Sony settled they get a kick back from Immersion. Isn't that illegal? I could have sworn there is something called an anti-kick back law somewhere.

Better yet, why would immersion agree to that? MS gave you 26 mil, but you have to give 15 mil back if Sony settles...was the lawyer at the bargaining table on crack that day?

[andy @ Jun 19th 2007 3:31PM]

Last I checked, we live in America where you're free to make any contract/licensing you want as long as it is not for an illegal purpose.

It's pretty simple really. MS said "we'll give you 25mil for the exclusive rights to rumble. We don't care that Nintendo makes consoles, but Sony is after our demographic. So, for an exclusive license, we'll give you 25 mil, but if you allow sony in any way to add this patented feature to their devices, then it's not an exclusive license and you owe us 15 mil because you didn't give us the exclusivity you promised us."

So, if you're immersion, the price to Sony is something in excess of 15mil. Anything less is a loss to Immersion, anything in excess is worth breaking MS's exclusive license and paying them their liquidated damages of 15 mil.

It's math, and it's really not that hard.

[dark star @ Jun 19th 2007 2:40PM]

did he really say that???
lol

[Matt @ Jun 19th 2007 3:22PM]

Maybe Immersion could use some of that money to design a logo that doesn't look like it came from Office 98's clipart.

[jdang307 @ Jun 19th 2007 3:39PM]

"Last I checked, we live in America where you're free to make any contract/licensing you want as long as it is not for an illegal purpose."

Without looking up the law, I can see how this would be illegal. I'm not saying it is, but there could be a law preventing these types of deals since it might hinder/chill settlements, which the courts hate since they are so busy and over-calendared as it is.

[JinKazama @ Jun 19th 2007 4:10PM]

Andy,

I understand your math but if I had a rock solid patent that was clearly infringed upon why would I put a contingency on my settlement? Basically you give me 26 mil and this goes away MS or you can risk spending 50 mil in lawyer fees and losing the tech.

Unless of course Immersion's patent wasn't as rock solid as claimed (which I suspect after doing a little googling). It seems MS got into bed with these guys seeing as Sony licensed rumble from logitech in 1998 to make the Dual Shock. Why not then sue logitech? I'm pretty sure they sued Sony and MS because they had deeper pockets, and this little kickback clause for MS is futher proof to me.

[JPB @ Jun 19th 2007 4:39PM]

Is anyone sick of this crap yet?

They should apply a fee to Microsoft, or any corporation, on a logarithmic basis for each lawsuit it files in any given year.

[michael @ Jun 19th 2007 7:17PM]

maybe if they spent less time in court and more time adding support for my touch feedback mouse, the damn thing would actually work.