In the United States, Sony has won a lawsuit over a patent issue. The case was filed in 2017 and the plaintiff, a company called GET, wanted damages of 500 million dollars, but that will not be forthcoming.
The whole thing has to do with the way controllers and consoles communicate with each other, especially when the controller has both button and motion inputs.
PlayStation uses “slow-varying” signals for the button inputs, while higher frequencies are used for the motion inputs. However, GET states that Sony is infringing one of their patents. GET is said to have been the first to come up with such a solution, without which consoles would not be able to receive signals from both button and motion inputs simultaneously.
However, Sony defended itself and stated that GET could not demonstrate that Sony uses exactly the same method described in GET’s patent. The judge followed Sony and so the case was finally dismissed after many years.
There is currently a similar case involving GET against Nintendo. A judge ruled in favor of Nintendo in 2020, but that decision was overturned on appeal in 2022.
