James Delahunty
28 Mar 2005 5:22
Sony said on Monday that it has been ordered by a U.S. court to halt sales of its Playstation consoles in the United States and also was ordered to pay $90 million in damages to Immersion Corp. Sony Computer Entertainment plans to appeal the decision. Immersion claims that Sony Computer Entertainment infringed on its technology that makes game controllers vibrate in sync with action in video games. Sony will continue to sell its consoles for now however, as the order wont go into effect before the appeal.
Immersion's total revenues in 2004 were $23.8 million which is less than a third of the $90 million Sony has been ordered to pay in damages. More accurately, Sony was ordered to pay $82 million but the figure rises to $90 million when interest is taken into account. Games have been Sony's profit driver in recent years, accounting for 44 percent of the company's group operating profit from October to December.
Immersions current market value is $135 million, which again demonstrates the impact $90 million (two thirds of the market value) extra would have on the company. An SCE spokeswoman said also that Sony will be paying compulsory license fees to Immersion.
Source:
Reuters