Andre Yoskowitz
24 Apr 2009 21:32
The inventor Craig Thorner, CEO of Virtual Reality Feedback, has sued Sony, PDP/Electro Source and multiple lawyers over the "theft" of intellectual property in relation to force feedback technology that is now used in PS3 DualShock 3 controllers.
Thorner says that Sony violated his trust by "failing to defend him and his patents against lawsuits from Immersion."
Immersion sued Sony and Microsoft over patent violations and suits and countersuits raged for years.
Electronista explains that "during Immersion's original lawsuit against Sony for violating patents with the original DualShock controller, he had originally licensed his patents to Immersion. Not being aware of a joint defense agreement between Sony and PDP, which was also sued by Immersion after Sony initially lost its case, Thorner switched his patent license to PDP. He claims that Sony unfairly exploited his unawareness of the defense deal with PDP and let him offer his patents for a too-low $150,000 when he would have been entitled to more."
Thorner also notes that he has a proof of a wire transfer from Sony to PDP for $150,000 USD which concealed Sony's involvement in the deal and was later passed on to Thorner.