Sony was smart enough to settle i'll bet microsoft won't do the same until the very end when they know they are about to lose they will settle for an undeclared amount. what i don't understand is why did they take so long to come out and sue, haven't they heard of the ps2,ps3,xbox,360,psp,dreamcast ...etc all capable of communicating with other people (although dreamcast used dial-up)

These things are ridiculous, these patent infringements are getting more and more absurd. Anyone can take out a patent on ANYTHING, with no intention of ever developing the idea. Then they wait until someone actually does introduce whatever it was that was patented, and then sue the ass off them...pathetic.

Really, patenting voice communication over the net whilst playing games is ludicrous.

how much did sony pay>

wait minute sony doesn't support cross game chat like xbox 360...devs. implement this if they want to use it on the ps3. ps3 only supports voice chat mail. so does this mean he can sue game studios if they want to?

Did these guys actually develop a way of communicating while playing the same game or did they just get the idea and patent the idea? Because, if they just got the idea and said, "Oh, I bet a large company with engineers will probably develop this capability one day, and then we can sue them for taking our idea," well then eff those guys. Both MS and Sony spent money or research and development to make the capability.

MS and Sony used their own engineers and their own resources. Why should they have to owe these guys anything? There are billions of people in the world. It is probable for two different people to have the same idea. The one who takes the initiative is more commendable than the moron who says he owns the idea but never does anything with it.

I really think that neither MS or Sony is wrong here. These A-holes are just leeches that are feeding off the success of two large companies. I hope MS counter-sues for frivolous charges and runs these guys into the ground.

A patent that remains dormant for that long and is not in any use should be null and void every other month Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo get sued for something. What next I see Microsoft gets sued again cause the Xbox is white or Sony gets sued cause the system is black.

@Narutone66 no that's not the point buddy. The point is he acted like MS was the only one who stole it. Like Sony wasn't there as well. Sure Sony settled and why because they stole it as well, but you can only expect dumbness from a droid or bot.

PC games back in the day allowed you to send text messages to others playing the same game. Why weren't they taken to court? Some games even allowed you to communicate via headsets.

Damn, SONY already settled. MS is next. This guy is rich biatch!!

you get what you paid for. oh wait. M$ didnt.

I like the pic of the lawyers. They all look happy like they just won the lottery.

I predict Bill Gates will show Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tenenbaum a patent of his own called the "satellite mounted death ray". Then they can talk to each other over IP and tell each other how they're melting and catching fire.

I think the descendants of Alexander Graham Bell should sue Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tenenbaum over infringing on the concept of communicating remotely over a wire.

this thing is getting retarded i mean. if they had made it and tried to used it in game console right and got denied then i will understand but they havent even made that crap yet. and they sued it years later after it came out. wtf wrong wit this world. people just out there for money. hope microsoft win this battle

the American dream

That's what you get when all you bring to the industry is faulty hardware with a 50% failure rate and blatant ripoffs of existing technologies (Avatar Mii ripoff, natal eyetoy ripoff...)

The world would be better without Microsoft.

This one describes this nonsense at best:

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

In yesterday’s WSJ, I read Honda has patented hybrid vehicles. Ford too has a hybrid vehicle, the architecture different and developed independently of Honda. Honda still could sue Ford for patent infringement, but has instead decided to cross-license the technology. Still other automakers are in a fix, because fuel-economy standards are necessitating hybrid vehicles – some are pursuing a wholly electric-powered car. The only Green here is the money for Honda.

Personally, with DRM to ‘napkin’ patents to litigation against Pirate Bay, I feel our current IP laws are woefully antiquated. The only problems with that IMHO are what laws replace those?

in its own actions and paid out. Microsoft is truly showing its iron fist, but the only problem is, it's corroded! Let it go, Micro$oft. You will lose and will eventually pay more than Sony!

...I love the part when they request marketing documents from Microsoft related to Ms. Mason:

"Over the next week, Microsoft proceeded to provide over 140,000 documents to Hochstein without any index."

lol that kicks ass

and then:

"Microsoft’s five week delay and “document dump” less than two months before trial also annoyed the court. The court ordered Microsoft to provide an index of the marketing documents within one week and barred Microsoft from introducing the marketing documents against Hochstein or contesting the admissibility of the marketing documents at trial."

stop with the marketing documentS!! lol

This way I can disallow these patent squatters the right to breathe and kill them off... or of course I will sue. lol

There's NOTHING, and NOTHING genius behind it. They don't deserve any of the money they might make out of this.
And they should not be awarded. How is this different than VoIP? Their idea was that players could talk *while* gaming. Wow, that's very clever of them.

This is a joke because Xbox live Voice and sony's voice are to different things, you telling me the this company invented Both????
first the Dual Shock and this Sony's in a hurt locker right now, I hope Microsoft blows these guy out of the water and not pay out just to move on... whats next the founder of glass is going to sue the World

Microsoft is robbing people on Xbox live so the should have enough money in the back pocket to pay it......

This is BS, Im tired of this BS suing crap.

What kind of idiot law permits to patent the idea of communicating through a machine ? It should instead work on patent for the MACHINE itself. Not the idea. Bunch of stupid laws.

this is like when i think IMMERSION sued NINTENDO and SONY..

also i remember watching some TV program a while ago.. i think it was news where some douchebag lawyer wanted to show his son how the patent office worked so he patented the SIDE TO SIDE swinging.. you know when you sit on the swing and don't actually swing but move side to side...

well he owns the patent.. they showed the whole process so this guy can sue anyone swinging side to side on a swing.. UBER GHEY.. just like this

go america ! more patents !

in my opinion You must done something and show it that it actually works and then aprove patent rather just think about it and patent. US Patents are horrible idea.

This is why lawyers belong at the bottom of the ocean