http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/ Engadget Comments for Microsoft and Immersion heading to court... again http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/
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!]]>Jun 19th 2007 1:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/lol]]>Jun 19th 2007 2:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/
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?

]]>Jun 19th 2007 2:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/
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.]]>Jun 19th 2007 3:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/
They should apply a fee to Microsoft, or any corporation, on a logarithmic basis for each lawsuit it files in any given year.
]]>Jun 19th 2007 4:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/Jun 19th 2007 3:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/
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.]]>Jun 19th 2007 3:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/
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.]]>Jun 19th 2007 4:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/19/microsoft-and-immersion-heading-to-court-again/Jun 19th 2007 7:17PM