Sony Ordered to Halt PlayStation Sales

Sony has been ordered to stop selling its popular PlayStation video games after losing a major patent infringement case.

Sony Ordered to Halt PlayStation Sales (Reuters)

Sony Corp. said on Monday it was ordered by a U.S. court to halt sales of its blockbuster PlayStation consoles in the United States and pay $90 million in damages to a California tech company, Immersion Corp., whose shares jumped more then 5 percent. Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony’s gaming unit, said it would appeal the decision by a California federal court in the patent infringement case.

For the time being, Sony will keep selling PlayStations as the order — which covers the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, two game controllers and 47 software titles — will not go into effect before the appeal, an SCE spokeswoman said. Sony will be paying compulsory license fees to Immersion, she added.

Wow.

Update: Typo in original corrected.

FILED UNDER: Economics and Business, Popular Culture, ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.