The jury of Federal Circuit Court of Appeal found Sony Computer Entertainment guilty in 2004 and had to pay Immersion $82m in damages which was increased to just over $90m in 2005. Sony wasn't satisfied to this and did appeal to that ruling as well as filed an appeal to District Court claiming that Immersion had tried to hide discussions with inventor Craig Thorner. Craig Thorner had been developing technology similar to what the Immersion's patents cover.
Judge Wilken of the US Court for the Northern District of California didn't find Craig Thorner, Sony's witness, credible. The judge dismissed the appeal after not being convinced by the Sony's witness or about the $150.000 payment from Sony to Thorner which was explained as an advance royalty payment.
The appeal about the original case for Federal Circuit Court is still ongoing and undecided.
Source:
The Register
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Written by: Matti Robinson @ 17 Mar 2006 0:56
