"blue ray" patent infringement?

[Coded-Dude]

"The US International Trade Commission said it will launch an investigation into possible patent infringements involving Sony's Blu-ray players and other technologies using laser and light-emitting diodes, such as Motorola's Razr phone and Hitachi camcorders. The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed in February by a Columbia University professor emerita who says she invented a method of using gallium nitride-based semiconductor material for producing wide band-gap semiconductors for LEDs and laser diodes in the blue/ultraviolet end of the light spectrum. Her complaint asks the ITC to block imports of LED and laser diode technology from Asia and Europe. The total market for all types of gallium nitride devices has been forecast at $7.2 billion for 2009 alone."slashdot (http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/21/1352246)

[VG Aficionado]

In before "OMG Sony to remove the Blu-ray drive from PS3!".

I remember some sites claiming that 4 years after launch, Sony was halting PS2 manufacturing because of the Immersion lawsuit. Heh.

[Coded-Dude]

yeah.....this seems a little steep considering for 2009 alone the import value is over 7 billion.

[Sephiroth_VII]

If there's anything to this, the BD camp will settle this out of court.

[Z]

it has begun!
you know you made it when people start suing you. ;p

[ddaryl]

notice how this didn't come to light until after HD-DVD was defeated...

if there was a patent infringement then shouldn't it have been brought to fruition earlier???

Nope the lawyers wait until the cash cow heads for the barn

[Jay Gee]

Same thing happening with the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. Money is the root of ALL fucking evil.

[Khaos]

I wouldn't judge so early; maybe she did pioneer the "method of using gallium nitride-based semiconductor material for producing wide band-gap semiconductors for LEDs and laser diodes in the blue/ultraviolet end of the light spectrum." And if she patented that, other companies are required by law to go to her before using the technology. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it works out.

EDIT: Though this does indirectly affect the PS2, it also affects all blu-ray based devices and even devices using blue LEDs. I think it would be better suited for Tech Central.

[Viper]

In before "OMG Sony to remove the Blu-ray drive from PS3!".

I remember some sites claiming that 4 years after launch, Sony was halting PS2 manufacturing because of the Immersion lawsuit. Heh.

The judge had ordered Sony to stop selling the PS2, Dual Shock 2 and various games. The only reason Sony was allowed to continue selling them was because they applied for an appeal of which they lost the first one. Had they not made up with Immersion Corp, the injunction would have been mandated forcing Sony to pull all remaining product from shelves and halting further shipments.

While actual manufacturing never halted (poor journalism if some claimed as such), they did come damn close to getting lolled by the lawl.

[Sephiroth_VII]

The judge had ordered Sony to stop selling the PS2, Dual Shock 2 and various games. The only reason Sony was allowed to continue selling them was because they applied for an appeal of which they lost the first one. Had they not made up with Immersion Corp, the injunction would have been mandated forcing Sony to pull all remaining product from shelves and halting further shipments.

While actual manufacturing never halted (poor journalism if some claimed as such), they did come damn close to getting lolled by the lawl.

If that wasn't on purpose, lol!

[Viper]

On purpose.

[Sephiroth_VII]

Damn.

[section]

She had to wait this long to sue them because she got asleep and after cleaning up the moths and the cobwebs she realized her PS3 actually had a blu-ray drive innit.

[Epix]

I love how the article mentions an attack on Sony when it's the entire Blu-Ray consortium that would be target of this lawsuit.

[VG Aficionado]

The news I read did say that Sony was indeed halting the manufacturing. Since it was before PS3's launch, the amount of money they would have given to Immersion would have never justified stopping the production of the system, which was still going to sell tens of millions more units. Now, since they had spent so much money on PS3's launch and whatnot, I can see why they removed rumble at first.

[TimmyJ]

A nobody in America exploiting the patent system in a piss poor attempt to make millions? Well I never...