Sony was told to stop sales of it’s PlayStation console as a judge upheld a jury ruling in California in 2004 that Sony used Immersion’s vibrating controller technology in their PlayStations. According to a company representative, Sony will still be able to sell the game consoles while it attempts to appeal the ruling. The company will also start paying Immersion royalties as ordered.
While on the subject of legal rulings, on Tuesday Grokster and Streamcast will be in front of the US Supreme Court to argue their case. Both file-sharing companies contend that P2P networks can be used to share legal content and they cannot control, and thus are not liable for, any piracy going on. According to Betanews, The entertainment industry, which will be represented in court by MGM Studios, disagrees with such claims. Hollywood and the RIAA say that P2P companies such as Grokster and StreamCast are no different from the old Napster, and have built their business by encouraging users to share illicit content. A federal appeals court sided with the file sharing networks last August, stating that Grokster and StreamCast’s Morpheus had legitimate uses, even if the majority of users are trading illegal content. But the industry refused to give up, and the case will be decided by the nation’s top court.
In a real twist, Mark Cuban decided to put his money where his mouth is and financially back Grokster in it’s legal fight against MGM. Check out his blog here.