Way back in 2006, Lucent-spin off Agere Systems
filed a lawsuit against Sony, claiming the electronics behemoth had infringed on not one, not two, but
eight of its patents. As it turns out a prior deal with Lucent gave Sony the rights to use seven of those, but that one unlicensed patent became Sony's weak point, allowing Agere's lawyers to inflict massive damage(s). The jury's findings state not only that Sony wrongly utilized Agere's intellectual property in the
mylo,
Network Walkman, and the
PSP, but that there was "clear and convincing evidence that such infringement was willful." In other words: big payout, in this case an eye-opening $18.5 million. Don't blame us Sony, we told you to settle! [Warning: PDF read link]
[Via
PSP Fanboy]
posted Nov 20th 2008 9:13AM
Booo Sony!
Gees.......talk about a sinking ship......{shakes head in disappointment}
Yeah, after last quarters revenue loss and this. Sony being beaten like a batter wife.
So what exactly did they copy? The texture of a dpad, the size of a button?...
I also would like to know, don't want to read the PDF...what can I say, I'm lazy like that!
You don't need to read the pdf, it doesn't tell you. follow the link to the PSP Fanboy page:
"Over two years ago, Agere Systems filed a suit against Sony for potential infringement on patents regarding "wireless local area network apparatus."
Still not too specific but better than nothing.
i thought it was the dual shock technology or rumble pack or whatever vibrating dildo technology they used
my bad. dual-shock was another patent infringement case they lost not related to this case.
SONY = LOSE
That's what happens when you're a giant patent infringing crab monster.
Is it me, or 18.5 mil figure seem kinda low? Eye opening? More like eye squinting.
I totally agree, 18.5 million dollars for Sony? That's nothing, it is almost just symbolic. They probably spent more on the legal fight over the past two years than that.
Ya know, other than a rootkit on a Sony/BMG CD a couple of years ago on one of my PC's, Sony's never really wronged me.
Why is it that I'm so happy whenever I see them hit with shit like this...
Haha... "other than a rootkit". That's akin to, "other than that anal probe, the aliens really never wronged me".
Just to get you started: remember Betamax? And more recently BD? Also how Sony just loves proprietary everything? Everything and anything they put in their electronics will ONLY work with other Sony products. I got a Sony camcorder a couple of years ago, and guess what? The video format was proprietary...
That's just part of why I hate Sony and won't ever buy a product from them again.
I dont know where you are getting your facts from Alex..
BD is NOT Sony! I hate it when people say that over and over again. Anyone can get on the BD bangwagon through the BDA which Sony is simply a part of. Why else would every manufacturer out there, except Toshiba have options for BD?
As far as camcorders go, my father had one, and it was never proprietary... maybe you just dont know what file extensions mean?
I also think, back when PSP came out, UMD was a good idea for the device, because it was cheaper than flash memory. Now it seems redundant.
I love sony products, their design and performance always appeal to me, so I may be a fanboy, but I dislike it when people just go about calling products a "bag of hurt" without reason, or information.
"BD is NOT Sony! .... Why else would every manufacturer out there, except Toshiba have options for BD?"
All those manufacturers... pay royalties... to Sony.
"As far as camcorders go, my father had one, and it was never proprietary... maybe you just dont know what file extensions mean?"
Have you tried editing that file? I didn't mean to play them.
"I also think, back when PSP came out, UMD was a good idea for the device, because it was cheaper than flash memory. Now it seems redundant."
"Cheaper?". It's cheaper to come up with a brand new media format, modify production lines, and the such than just using a format that already exists?
"but I dislike it when people just go about calling products a "bag of hurt" without reason, or information"
LOL
Proprietary is fine for Apple, but not for Sony?
Sony are continually coming up with innovative and sexy products. They have made a couple of errors, but what company their size wouldn't?
They deserve respect for all the great products they've come up with over the years, not being dissed for one or two mistakes.
But people always concentrate on the negative, human nature at it's worst.
Great, now Apple is involved?
BD is not Sony, yet Sony is one (if not the main) leader behind BD.
Anyways, I disagree with many Sony products because they are fond in (oh surprise) the use of their own proprietary memory format, the infamous Memory Stick (ugly, slow and expensive) instead to switch to the widely used SD/MSD/MicroSD format.
The fact is Panasonic actually owns more BD patents than Sony. They are most likely the one receiving the highest royalty payments.
I might not agree with a lot of the decisions Sony has made but at least they are try to improve on the status quo. Atrac and AAC are better than MP3. Betamax is better than VHS. BD is better than HDDVD. You might not like the price or compatibility but at least it pushes other companies from putting out the same sucky stuff every year.
I also don't understand why UMD is lumped in with the other proprietary formats. Is it because movies are available on them? Is the DS cartridge considered proprietary?
@All
Sony is part of the BD quartet, but which of the four was the most active, and had the most to lose if BD didn't get adopted. People are saying that they hate when the whole BD fiasco gets blamed on Sony when it was a consortium. The other 3 members haven't even done a fraction of what Sony did to push their format. Didn't PS3s ship with BD even before it became the "standard" format.
Low rank me all you want, Sony still sucks.
In that case Alex, I will consider DVD as a sony proprietary format, because it was bundled with a PS2 when DVDs were not recognized either.
BD disc hold 50 gb of date currently whereas a DVD holds 9. If PS3 is to pump out good 1080i/p games, which are of playable length and where i dont have to swap a disc every 20 mins of gameplay, I really dont think there was another alternative to a BD. Please tell me if you know of any other format that can hold 50 GB of data and I will try being serious about what you say.
you are racist
@Alex L.
You are not the only one, man! I am with you. But you (or me) will be ranked low here because of PS3 and PSP crowd. Still.
I use lots of Sony products (mostly professional video equipment - cameras and such) and consider them amazing in terms of technology. Still, I hate Sony (or Sony's legal department, in this regard), for several things. One is rootkit, another is RIAA, and the next is BluRay.
First two are hated by most, but I personally add BluRay to that. I think Sony's bribe to other production companies which ended the life of cheap, reliable and less proprietary HD-DVD, was just plain monopolistic. And though I own PS3, I will be glad if Sony's BluRay technology will fail. If not Sony, HD-DVD players might be selling for $50 already.
I will, of course, continue buying Sony's equipment, because I love their technology. But I will continue to hate their legal department and their proprietary obsession. Now rank me low.
Damagees.
Get owned Sony. I love to see them struggle, anytime, anywhere. Eat it.
Raped your Mom, huh?
Sony does love proprietary tech, but they will license. It's just that other manufacturers don't see the point most of the time in making their stuff compatible. But I don't blame Sony for trying to push the market forward, only when they introduce something that's no better than what's already on the market just to be different (not even an aesthetic advantage).
Gar! Corrected in the post!
Calling it:
Sony sued for Patent infringed Blu-ray disks with rootkits for overpromised and underperforming proprietary PS3s with exploding batteries
-Their next fiasco
Oh wait...
wait, what? batteries in the ps3? huh?
massive damage reference made my day
Sony kicked my cat.
+1
You come to my house and you kick my dog!
better your cat than your balls.
$18.5 million probably wipes out any money they ever made off the Mylo...
Sony - Like.No.Other
Yeah, f*cking sh*te, unlike the rest.
Looking at the high ranks and low ranks, it's pretty safe to say that the Sony fanbois are up earlier than everyone else...
(people who like sony products + people who disagree with you) != sony fanboi
Hey look! I caught one!
throws out last crumb from pocket. damn, i need to stop feeding the trolls.
@sjdurfey,
LOL, touche...
+1
*non-troll feeding post*
in all seriousness though, i do have problems with Sony, im an open source guy, and therefore i am not a fan of proprietary bull****. they have made many anti-consumer moves over the years, with Blu-Ray just another notch in their anti-consumer ways. However, they do make products that i thoroughly enjoy; all the playstations come to mind....except the PSP, i bought one thinking it was going to be great, then Sony and everyone else gave up on it. Now it just sits, unless i want to play Lumines, which is really the only game (outside of Metal Gear Portable Ops) that i found to actually be fun.
on a side note, anyone want to buy a PSP-1001 plus 10 or so games? :D
They have great products, I never said they were "shitty". But the whole proprietary crap + how they throw their weight around... I just can't stand it to the point I won't buy anything from them as long as it carries any of their proprietary crap (which is pretty much all their products.)
PS: not going to deny I'm a troll, but Sony has a special little place in my heart...(do trolls have hearts?)
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Microsoft if you think Sony is bad at throwing their weight around...
MS can suck my left nut and Apple can suck my right nut. And I own products from both. But neither are as shitty as Sony when it comes to consumer unfriendly decisions.
You realize that this is NOTHING for SONY. It is probably cheaper for them to go this way than to have gone through all the negotiating (man hours cost) and deal working. It is not right, but, sadly, that is the reality. Besides some minor bad publicity, there is little punishment here.
Karma bitches! This is what you get for blocking Netflix Sony movie streaming on Xbox!
Sony is not blocking all Netflix movies on Xbox 360. Just the Columbia releases. What about the Karma of Fable 2 only on Xbox?
Agere which is now owned by lsi manufactures networking and media chips. So its probably the network chip in sonys psp and mylo products that infringes on the patent. The title is like a summary of sorts
This lawsuit actually has merrit. Agere is not some patent troll company.
why is everyone a Sony hater? companies like Sony work hard to provide electronics and software so that you lonely haters can type on a computer when you should be outside getting some exercise. put the cheesburger down and get a life.
by the way, maybe when anyone criticises a company they should also provide a list of the products they have invented, and what patents they hold.
my guess is that list will be VERY short.
I'm glad they got to pay $18.5 Million dollars, Sony you guys are a bunch of beyoootches and that's what you get for not allowing Netflix to stream Sony content.....BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
So the article reads that Sony infringed on eight of Agere's patents. Then it back tracks... So it looks to be more like one... Yes?