Sony sued.....again....for Infringing on Patents
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=25310
Wow. I won't cite the entire lengthy article, but basically the company is saying that Sony's use of a specific silver alloy to coat the Blu-Ray Disks (I believe they used to use gold or aluminum) infringes on their patent...which had finally been granted in March of 2006.This is the Immersion lawsuit all over again, except Sony can't just change or modify existing Blu-Ray drives as they did with rumble. My prediction: Sony will fight a request for an injunction preventing further manufacturing, win but have to post a massive bond, fight the underlying lawsuit for years, lose, appeal and watch the judgment accumulate interest, then pay a massive amount to settle the lawsuit.If this case is a slam dunk, and TTC actually manages to shut down Blu-Ray disk production or force a manufacturing switch to another alloy...which may or may not be possible, I'm really not sure what Sony can do other than pay them whatever they want. From the company website:
"Target Technology Company LLC offers proprietary silver alloy sputtering targets for the semi reflective (Layer 0) of DVD-9. Many DVD replication companies worldwide are using our innovative target material to replace gold or silicon as the semi-reflective layer in the production of DVD-9. Our customers have been producing DVD-9 discs using our silver alloy technology for over six year with very favorable results. The disc quality is consistently better than conventional DVD-9 with gold and aluminum layers and yet the cost is substantially lower. "
Wow. I won't cite the entire lengthy article, but basically the company is saying that Sony's use of a specific silver alloy to coat the Blu-Ray Disks (I believe they used to use gold or aluminum) infringes on their patent...which had finally been granted in March of 2006.This is the Immersion lawsuit all over again, except Sony can't just change or modify existing Blu-Ray drives as they did with rumble. My prediction: Sony will fight a request for an injunction preventing further manufacturing, win but have to post a massive bond, fight the underlying lawsuit for years, lose, appeal and watch the judgment accumulate interest, then pay a massive amount to settle the lawsuit.If this case is a slam dunk, and TTC actually manages to shut down Blu-Ray disk production or force a manufacturing switch to another alloy...which may or may not be possible, I'm really not sure what Sony can do other than pay them whatever they want. From the company website:
"Target Technology Company LLC offers proprietary silver alloy sputtering targets for the semi reflective (Layer 0) of DVD-9. Many DVD replication companies worldwide are using our innovative target material to replace gold or silicon as the semi-reflective layer in the production of DVD-9. Our customers have been producing DVD-9 discs using our silver alloy technology for over six year with very favorable results. The disc quality is consistently better than conventional DVD-9 with gold and aluminum layers and yet the cost is substantially lower. "
posted by O.C. Mike at
2:53 PM
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