On Feb. 11, 2002, a small San Jose technology company, Immersion Corp.,filed a suit against several giants of the gaming industry, claiminginfringements of two patents that it says were improperly used in the SonyPlayStation 2 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox gaming consoles.
The papers were filed in the United States District Court for the NorthernDistrict of California, Oakland division, (case no. C 02-0710 CW). They named asdefendants both San Mateo, Calif.-based Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.and its Japanese parent company Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., as well asMicrosoft Corp., which settled out of court for $35 million. The case then wentto trial against remaining defendants on Aug. 16, 2004, before Judge ClaudiaWilkens.
