Be Excellent To Each Other

I only have a sec, but:



http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168949&b=3

Surely the analogue sticks on the classic controller are the same as the stick on the nunchuck?

And for that matter, aren't they REALLY similar to those on the DA,DS1,DS2,DS3,SixAxis,Xbox Duke Controller, XBox Controller S and 360 controller?

Presumably it's the octagonal-shape of the movement area that they're taking issue with. Dunno why though.

I think Sony have paid up so they can use it and Microsoft have settled out of court.
Not sure why that means you can still buy 360 pads though?

I can't read that at work, but I always love these stories.
Small company comes out with "patent infringement claim",
people speculate wildly about how this could be the end of product X
Big company say, "meh" and/or "meh, here's some money."
No one even notices the end of the story.

Because the settled out of court?

Yeah, but what's the difference?
Sony have paid to use the patent
Microsoft have settled out of court so they don't get sued.
Can Nintendo keep selling the pads as long as they pay the court settlement?

I'm just not sure why licensing the patent and settling out of court have both led to them being ok to carry on selling them.

Edit - Sorry, I'm really tired. I think I get it now.
Basically, Sony pays x amount of money to license it.
Microsoft got threatened with a lawsuit, so they spent y (much more than x) to settle and can carry on selling
Nintendo decided to fight it, so now they have to pay z (much, much more than y or x) to carry on selling.

Not true in the case of the Interact patent on rumble leading to the Sixaxis though.

If Nintendo lose the appeal they would pay up, I suspect, and not take the controllers off the market.

I strongly suspect that y would have been less than x - and that the people sueing would have accepted the lower figure to avoid the risk and cost of actually taking it to court.

Basically - we'll give you this amount to quietly go away. If not, we'll bring our massive army of lawyers and rape your faces off.

So Sony shouldn't have happily licensed it, they should have waited until they were threatened with a court case and settled up then for less than they actaully paid?

Who knows. It's a gamble, innit?

Sorry, is this some sort of Sony thing?