Immersion pays $20.8m settlement to Microsoft
updated 01:45 pm EDT, Wed August 27, 2008
Immersion settles with MS
It was announced today that Immersion Corp. will pay $20.8 million to Microsoft to settle a lawsuit regarding vibration technology used in the latter's gaming system controllers. As part of the settlement, Immersion will join Microsoft's Certified Partner Program. The now-discarded lawsuit stems from a previous settlement Sony and Immersion reached that saw Sony pay Immersion $121 million for use of its patented technology, with Microsoft claiming its sublicense agreement gives it a claim to a portion of the Sony/Immersion settlement that Immersion initially refused to pay.
This puts an end to the lawsuit Microsoft filed back in June of 2007. Microsoft sought at least $15 million of $100 million paid by Sony, in addition to 25 percent of the amount over $100 million and below $150 million. Immersion filed a countersuit, alleging Microsoft breached a May 2007 confidentiality agreement set between the two companies.
The legal affair involving Immersion, Sony and Microsoft dates back to 2002, when Immersion sued both electronics companies for infringing its patents related to the vibration controllers for the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 gaming consoles.
