A U.S. District Court has put an end to a lawsuit brought against Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2017 over its PlayStation controller technology. The complaint was filed by Genuine Enabling Technology (GET), who claimed that Sony had infringed on its patent while designing its controllers (then DualShock 4) — specifically, the way the peripherals communicate with consoles.
No proof of PlayStation controller technology infringing on existing patent, judge finds
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, GET said that Sony’s controllers and consoles are designed to simultaneously receive dual signals; one on a “slow-varying” frequency for button inputs and the other on higher frequency for motion control input. GET claimed that this was never done before until it patented its technology for the same.
Sony countered GET’s claims by saying that the company had failed to show that any of its controllers’ components was “structurally equivalent” to the logic diagrams published in the patent. The judge agreed that GET had “failed to raise a dispute of fact,” and ruled in Sony’s favor on March 25.
GamesIndustry.biz pointed out that GET filed a similar complaint against Nintendo involving the same patent. A District Court had ruled in Nintendo’s favor but the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed that decision, so the case is ongoing.
