Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo All Sued For Patent Infringement On Joystick Design
from the no,-seriously dept
It appears that all three of the game console makers, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are facing a patent lawsuit from a patent holding company for the way they designed their controllers. The patent in question is for a low-voltage joystick interface -- though, the fact that all of the game consoles on the market today use a similar technique suggests it's not a particularly non-obvious idea. As the link above notes, the patent holding company has been involved in a few other high profile patent lawsuits, but hasn't done so well with a few of them. Apparently, though, that's just incentive to keep on trying.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Just think about it, all three console producers are going against each other like cat and dog at the moment so anything to gain an advantage will be worth doing.
If i was microsoft for example i would pay the licence or whatever was requested and that would therefore give the patent holder the funds to fight the other two.
Or they might be so inclined to team together and the patent holder would get trounced in court.
mmmm
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The first joystick used by any of the three companies mentioned in the suit was with the Nintendo 64.
After that we got the Playstation2, the Xbox, the Gamecube and now the PS3, Wii and Xbox360. All of those have joysticks in the controllers.
The N64 alone is more than 10 years old! So why now?
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Re:
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Check under your bridges...
The big three will do the financial equivalent of what vikings did to villages way back when we still thought the world was flat. And as much as I hate the money mongers I'd support them on this one. Supreme Court needs ammo that cases like this would generate in order to revise the patent system, if they ever get around to it. I'll be amazed if Fenner Investments, the suing company in question pulls this off, and lose faith in humanity at the same time...
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Re: MadJo
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Only filed in 1998?
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Re:
I never realised there was that much going on inside the hanset ;0)
I with you though - why wait so long if not for trolling?
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Re: Re:
I agree with Mike, the idea is very obvious. It is interesting that the patent was filed July 10, 1998, but cites five patents that were issued after that date. Even more interesting is that one of the patents (5920734) cited is owned by Microsoft. So the patent troll is suing Microsoft for patent infringement when the patent in question cites a Microsoft patent. Yup, everything is perfectly fine in the world of IP.
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suing over patent
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suing over patent
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Re: suing over patent
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Re: Re: suing over patent
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PVP is the answer
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The Dual Shock came out in Japan in 1997 and the US in May of 1998. Considering this patent wasn't filed until JULY of 1998, it seems to me that they're liable to have a problem there.
Also, reading the patent description
sure sounds suspiciously similar to a PC game port:
courtesy of answers.com
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Re: Avatar28
PS1 controller is really just a modded snes controller.
Uses two shift registers to parrallel load the registers and shift the output every time it gets a clock pulse.
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Re:
Regards,
Ray Livingston
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props
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I hate to say it but..
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They may have a case...
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Re: They may have a case...
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dismissed with prejudice implies settlement
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Re: dismissed with prejudice implies settlement
Quite the opposite. Exactly the opposite.
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"Watch the affidavits fly as lawyers get down and dirty in Season 35 of LawMania - where justice meets Sylvester Stallone"
pah.
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Patent holders
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Re:
That was in Australia after their IP law was revised, nothing to do with US.
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To #21
Yes that's an intelligent attitude, I must say. The government can take our liberties and our freedom, right to trial before imprisonment, hand over most of the power to faceless corporations instead of the people. But if you don't like it, you're unAmerican. It's people like you who should be deported, or shot.
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ignore them
It's a shame the law does not recognise or have a way of dealing with a malicious action like this, otherwise there would be a nicer, more legal way to deal with this upstart troll. Unfortunately, as it stands, the moment they even acknowledge the letter they light the bonfire of wealth.
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It's like when I heard a song the other day, knew it, liked it, though it was fairly new song, looked on the little tag they had it and it was from 1999.
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Joy Stick Patent
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PSP
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Lets look at the other side
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