Sony has recently won a lawsuit filed against it by Genuine Enabling Technology (GET), regarding the patents related to game controller communication methods. GET had accused Sony of violating its patent on the connection method between the controller and the PlayStation game console and sought $500 million in compensation. However, the US court has ruled in favor of Sony, stating that it did not infringe on GET’s patent.
GET had claimed that the PlayStation console and controller send ‘slow-varying’ frequency signals to the buttons and higher-frequency signals to the motion controls, and no device could receive both signals at the same time until its patent provided a solution. Sony, on the other hand, denied these allegations and argued that GET failed to prove that the components in its game controller were structurally equivalent to the diagram in GET’s patent. The judge agreed with Sony and ruled in its favor, finding that GET could not present convincing evidence of patent infringement.
This decision is a significant victory for Sony, as it is currently facing many patent-related lawsuits. GET is also pursuing a similar lawsuit against Nintendo, which was ruled in Nintendo’s favor in 2020 but is still under review by the US appeals court in 2022.
