A judge rules in favor of Sony in a lawsuit claiming that the company infringed upon patented technology for use in PlayStation controllers.
Highlights
- A judge has ruled in Sony’s favor in a $500 million patent infringement lawsuit.
- GET has failed to prove Sony copied patented technology in PlayStation controllers.
- GET’s similar lawsuit against Nintendo still ongoing.
A judge has ruled in favor of Sony regarding the massive $500 million lawsuit filed against the company several years ago. In a new Memorandum Opinion, a US District Court judge ruled that Sony did not infringe upon patented technology with its PlayStation controllers and consoles. Genuine Enabling Technology (GET) filed the lawsuit against Sony back in 2017, seeking a total of $500 million in damages for allegedly copying its patented technology.
Sony has continued to be one of the leading forces in home console manufacturing. Rumors indicate Sony is working on a PlayStation 5 Pro model, which is expected to release later in 2024.
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According to a new report from Games Industry.Biz, GET lost its lawsuit against Sony. GET claimed Sony infringed upon a patent entitled “Method and Apparatus for Producing a Combined Data Stream and Recovering Therefrom the Respective User Input Stream and at Least One Input Signal.” GET claimed that Sony deliberately copied this technology for use within its PlayStation line of consoles and controllers instead of developing it on its own. One of the major complaints in the lawsuit revolved around the way in which PlayStation technology communicated with each other, such as the “slow-varying” frequency for button inputs, as well as higher frequency for motion control. GET stated Sony stole the patented technology and used it within its systems.
Details of the Lawsuit Against Sony
In the lawsuit, GET claimed that without this patent, no device could receive both signals, arguing Sony copied the technology. However, Sony argued that GET failed to provide substantial evidence that proved components within PlayStation controllers were “structurally equivalent” to diagrams shown in GET patents. Sony’s DualShock controller has been a staple of video gaming for over a decade, with the DualSense launching alongside the PlayStation 5 in 2020.
The judge agreed with Sony that GET had “failed to raise a dispute of fact,” removing liability from the company. After nearly seven years, the judge declared the case closed, letting Sony officially off the hook. GET also filed a similar lawsuit against Nintendo, but that case is still ongoing. Sony has been consistently working on improvements for its controllers, with PlayStation 5’s DualSense being the latest iteration. Reports indicate work is underway on a new version of the DualSense, which would feature improvements on the already-popular Sony controller.
Sony PlayStation 5
The Sony PlayStation 5 console is one of the most popular gaming machines currently with a fast SSD, a custom AMD APU, and 16GB of GDDR6 console memory, making it one of the best options on the market. It also happens to have a surprising number of console exclusives and currently trades at a discount at multiple retailers nationwide.
- 4K Capabilities
- Yes, Up to 4K 120Hz
- Power Source
- AC Power
- What’s Included
- Console, HDMI Cable, Controller, A/C Power, Stand, Documentation
- Brand
- Sony PlayStation
- Storage
- 825GB
