MS get 20million from immersion

WTF,What sort of an agreement says:

"I'll pay you for infringing your patent, but if anyone else pays you for infringing your patent, you pay me"

:confused::confused::confused:
 
Doesn't Microsoft own a share in Immersion which is why they never had a problem using the rumble technology in their controller? or was that a bad rumour floating around the internet last year?
 
$20,000,000 is like pocket change to Microsoft though isn't it? And them having to pay $5,000,000 to use rumble functionality, surely they could have easily paid something like $500,000,000? :p
 
20 million isn't pocket change to anyone. It can fund a major game development project for example, or go towards research for the next console - or set aside to cover future warranties, small as the amount is in the grand scheme of things. It all counts towards future price cuts and the like.
 
El_Watcher said:
WTF,What sort of an agreement says:

"I'll pay you for infringing your patent, but if anyone else pays you for infringing your patent, you pay me"

:confused::confused::confused:
Click to expand...
They agreed to an exclusivity contract. Much like games only being allowed to appear on a certain system, the idea was that only Microsoft would be allowed to use Immersion's technology.

Now MS are claiming that by Sony having to pay Immersion for the tech, they're essentially breaking the exclusivity agreement. Which is a bit silly, as it's not really Immersion's fault.

Then again, given the multi-million dollar figures floating about, I'm not going to lose any sleep over who wins or loses in this.
 
I don't understand how they can even patent something that basically comes down to a weight on one side of a motor, im pretty sure theres plenty of prior art ffs.
 
OK so MS paid $5m for the use of the tech.

They've now been paid $20m by immersion because of the Sony thing.

Sooooo, in effect MS have actually been paid $15m to use immersion tech in it's rumble force feedback controllers.... Who says there aren't not good businessmen out there :D

Good on them frankly. if they signed an exclusive contract they could argue that they would much rather not have Sony also having rumble controllers using the tech than an extra $15m.
 
Radiation said:
I don't understand how they can even patent something that basically comes down to a weight on one side of a motor, im pretty sure theres plenty of prior art ffs.
Click to expand...

Probably not when used with software for feedback on a controller, which is where the patent would come in (part hardware, part how it's implimented).
IIRC Nintendo also hold a patent for a very similar system, but theirs used a different method of implementing it or something, and I believe was filed at roughly the same time (so they came to an agreement not to sue each other as there was differences in their methods).


Re the MS payments thing, didn't MS buy a share of immersion as part of the settlement with them over their patent dispute?
 
If MS can patent a shortcut (which is basically what personalised in-game music is) then surely anything is patent-able (if thats the right word)

stinks to high heaven to me - but hey ho
 
lol, i've heard stories about MS lawyers just being terrifying to anyone coming up against them and it sounds like this is a case where that tactic has paid off. Fortunately this isn't going to be enough to make a huge impact for MS or Sony.
 
Athanor said:
OK so MS paid $5m for the use of the tech.

They've now been paid $20m by immersion because of the Sony thing.

Sooooo, in effect MS have actually been paid $15m to use immersion tech in it's rumble force feedback controllers.... Who says there aren't not good businessmen out there :D

Good on them frankly. if they signed an exclusive contract they could argue that they would much rather not have Sony also having rumble controllers using the tech than an extra $15m.
Click to expand...
No MS originally paid $26 million or so, now they're getting $20 million back. So overall they have paid $6 million for it.
 
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