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Sony Loses $18.5 Million in Patent Lawsuit Ruling
by Blake Ellison, Nov 19, 2008 3:35pm PSTSony will be forced to pay $18.5 million in damages to a company called Agere Systems for a patent violation on a "wireless local area network apparatus" included in Sony handheld devices including the PSP.
The ruling, discovered by PSP Fanboy, ends a lawsuit filed two years ago by Agere. The firm is now a subsidiary of a company called LSI, "a leading provider of innovative silicon, systems and software technologies that enable products which seamlessly bring people, information and digital content together."
A jury ruled that the patent infringement was willful, which likely contributed to the total amount Sony is ordered pay.
Sony, like other large-scale game companies, was also recently hit with a patent claim for the PlayStation 3's Blu-Ray capability. In 2007, the company won a dismissal in a Blu-Ray-related suit and settled with Immersion, a force-feedback developer.
Comments
Because you are in the USA $10 of your purchase went to pay patent extortion to companies that create nothing. That extortion will strengthen their company and encourage other companies to patent extort so expect to pay $20 in extortion for your PS4.
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"A company" called LSI? They're another chipset maker, one of the big SCSI chipsets makers for a long time. Sun Microsystems has been using their chips for over 15 years.
These aren't obscure patent farm companies. They are companies that spent tons of money and hours of research to build this stuff. It doesn't surprise me to see them defend what they claim is their IP.
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