Sony Prevails: Victory in $500 Million Patent Infringement Battle

Sony emerged victorious in a long-standing legal battle against Genuine Enabling Technology (GET) as a US District Court judge ruled in favor of the PlayStation maker, ending a $500 million patent infringement lawsuit. The lawsuit, initiated by GET in 2017, alleged that Sony's PlayStation consoles and controllers violated a patent dating back to 2001.

GET's patent, titled 'Method and Apparatus for Producing a Combined Data Stream and Recovering Therefrom the Respective User Input Stream and at Least One Input Signal,' focused on the communication method between consoles and controllers. The company claimed that Sony's devices utilized a similar communication protocol, utilizing both slow-varying signals for button inputs and high-frequency motion signals, which GET had previously developed. Sony denied these allegations, arguing that GET failed to provide substantial evidence proving infringement. The key of Sony's defense rested on the lack of structural equivalence between the components in its controllers and the diagrams outlined in GET's patent.

Following thorough legal proceedings, the judge concurred with Sony's stance, asserting that GET had "failed to raise a dispute of fact." Consequently, the court granted Sony's request for a summary judgment of non-infringement, effectively closing the case.

This legal victory marked the culmination of a seven-year legal battle, during which Sony adamantly defended its position. The company's successful defense not only safeguarded its intellectual property rights but also thwarted GET's attempt to seek substantial damages.