N.J. inventor says Sony ripped him off, tricked him out of cash

by Justin McElroy { Apr 23rd 2009 at 6:15PM }

OK, you know we have little tolerance for anything that's more legally demanding than Phoenix Wright, so just try to hang in there with us. Inventor Craig Thorner has filed suit against Sony, saying that the company and a handful of lawyers tricked him out of some money he could have received for patents he owned on rumble technology.

To put it as simply as possible: Thorner had some patents that both Sony and Immersion tried to get during their legal squabbling. Thinking it might net him some cash, Thorner licensed his patents to Immersion, which won its case against Sony. Immersion then went after PDP/Electro Source, which also licensed Thorner's patents after he believed his deal with Immersion expired. But (stick with us!) Sony and PDP/Electro Source had teamed up, and Thorner alleges that he wasn't informed of the deal, which made him license his patents to PDP for much less than he could have had he known (that's the "tricked him out of cash" part).

God, that was exhausting. If you want even more detail (if not necessarily a better understanding) of the case you can read GamePolitics' full piece here.

Tags: Craig-Thorner, dual-shock, gamepolitics, immersion, PDP, sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

uncle jesse @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:17PM

Who shot who in the what now?

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:27PM

BLAST!!!

You beat me to it...

I was SOOOOO gonna say that

Negativecool @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:34PM

Good god! Everytime I make that exact reference no one knows what I'm talking about. I was beginning to think I was alone...all alone.

Thank you sir, you've renewed my faith in humanity.

[+]

AsherR @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:22PM

Okay. I'm not going to be able to get that picture out of my head now, Justin. That picture being one of a pantsless Matlock....

Duck feathers!

So many of these lawsuits are frivolous, but some seem to have merit. No idea where this one falls right now. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Giroro @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:24PM

Lol @ Matlock

Giroro @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:25PM

When did the Dualshock come out? Patents only last for 14 years . . .

coffins outside the door @ Apr 23rd 2009 7:09PM

Twenty not fourteen.

jon @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:28PM

Matlock twice in one day is epic.

Sam @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:30PM

wait... didn't nintendo invent rumble response? i'm so confused...

FluxWaveZ @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:36PM

Different kind of rumble technology.

Extinction @ Apr 23rd 2009 9:04PM

Nintendo didnt invent any of the thinhs ppl tend to credit them with

Sam @ Apr 23rd 2009 9:36PM

fanboy alert, fanboy alert!!! oh noes! Nintendo is a copycat! YES! it was NINTENDO that betrayed Sony with their contract to co-author a CD-run consloe, because Nintendo came out with the first CD-run console, not Sony, no, Nintendo totally stole it and called it the playstation, while sony was stuck with the N64 :(

and then when Nintendo went to Sony to ask for help making a controller, Nintendo totally stole the plans and the credit and named it the DualShock, and they haven't changed the controller since. Totally, Nintendo never made ANYTHING.

R @ Apr 24th 2009 2:50AM

Pretty sure the Sega CD came out before sony even thunk the word "playstation"

Hashbrown Hunter @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:35PM

...so the whole point of this guy complaining is that he didn't make as much money off of a multi-billion dollar company than he could have?

Sorry buddy, but that's just a simple case of wrong place and wrong time. Stop whining.

Coyote @ Apr 24th 2009 3:26PM

Yep and we can only hope Sony will counter sue and take him down for price fixing and biased licensing practices.

Rhamsey @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:35PM

Objection!!!!

The Dark Wayne @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:36PM

I only ever watched one episode of Matlock. I had woken up early to watch Batman TAS, but it was too early, and Matlock was on. I had no idea what was going on, I couldnt only watch in confusion as I tried to figure out what this gray suited gentleman had done to Batman

blairseip @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:36PM

I hate it when it gets into summer months...just not a lot to report on.

The Dark Wayne @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:44PM

it's April, and May isn't summer either

Dirty @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:48PM

Yea dude, if your bored in april your kinda fucked.

Great Golem+ @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:44PM

EVER WANTED TO KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE VIBRATOR?

The first mechanical vibrator was invented in the 1880's by a British
physician as a way to more quickly and effectively perform a "therapeutic
massage." Starting in the first century A.D., doctors manually massaged
women to orgasm in hopes of purging them of a mysterious illness. The
vibrator was invented as a way to get the job done more quickly and therefore
allowing the doctor time to see more patients.

What, you must ask, were esteemed physicians doing with their vibrators?
They were treating hysteria, the most common health complaint among women
of the day. While the existence of hysteria as a disease was debunked in
the 1950¹s, medical experts from the time of Hippocrates up to the 20th
century believed that hysteria expressed the womb¹s revolt against sexual
deprivation. A woman's display of mental or emotional distress was a clear
indication of her need for sexual release. Genital massage was a standard
treatment for hysteria; its objective was to induce "hysterical paroxysm"
(better known as orgasm) in the patient. Obviously such treatment demanded
both manual dexterity and a fair amount of time, so turn of the century
physicians were delighted with the efficiency, convenience and reliability
of portable vibrators.

Knight Marquise @ Apr 23rd 2009 7:32PM

While it's interesting, to say the least, what the hell does that have to do with this story????

Jack_Jackington @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:18PM

excuse me my man. not to interrupt your orgasmic moment or anything but uhhhhh... could you and your vibrators get a room (without internet access) and stay in said room?

ThornedVenom (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:55PM

The internet knows all!

Courtney @ Apr 24th 2009 2:51AM

Perhaps the point is that rumble "technology" has been around since the 1880s.

Pdriver @ Apr 23rd 2009 6:49PM

Dealing with corporations without an attorney for protection is just asking for trouble.

StarStabbedMoon @ Apr 23rd 2009 7:04PM

Agreed. People are too busy hating lawyers to remember about the other 50% of lawyers that are trying to protect people like this.

MBO @ Apr 23rd 2009 7:10PM

its his own damn fault.

DigitalTwisted @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:00PM

No sympathy for the guy at all, Sony don't have to announce to the world if they team up with someone.

For example my friend HATES Pepsi and has proclaimed for years that anything made by Pepsico is evil and he will never purchase that product.....

He eats Quaker Oats every day for breakfast.....any idea who owns Quaker Oats?.....

Moris @ Apr 24th 2009 7:37AM

Lolz, wonder what he will do when he finds out the truth? XD

TregGert @ Apr 23rd 2009 8:08PM

MBO hit the nail on the head.

Assuming this information is entirely correct, PDP/Electro Source is under no obligation to inform him of their other business proceedings (in fact, there are many instances where this actually is illegal).

This case has no ground, unless somewhere in his licensing agreement with PDP/ES he is given specific rights to approve/disprove of business proceedings dealing with his patent.

I usually like David v. Golaith law stories (Scratch, LLC v. Activision made me cry I was so over-joyed), here though this looks like a guy who is just being a dick because he didn't get all the money he could have.

Welcome to the world of business Mr. Thorner, you have to live with the deals you make, and make those deals with the information you have.