Engineer Sues Sony, Lawyers Over Alleged Force Feedback Conspiracy

A New Jersey-based engineer has sued Sony Computer Entertainment and a video game peripheral company for patent infringement regarding force feedback patents. But what sets plaintiff Craig Thorner’s suit apart from other recent video game-related patent complaints is that aside from suing Sony and controller manufacturer Performance Design Products (formerly Electro Source) for infringement, he’s also suing the companies’ lawyers for allegedly conspiring to con him out of a fair royalty and payment deal. Thorner, who holds multiple tactile feedback patents, said in a lawsuit filed on April 21 that the defendants committed, among other counts, fraud and malpractice when they allegedly conspired to “induce Thorner to grant rights to his patents on unfair terms.” Thorner and his company Virtual Reality Feedback hold patents including "Apparatus And Method For Generating A Control Signal For A Tactile Sensation Generator" and "Universal Tactile Feedback System For Computer Video Games And Simulations", among others. Thorner’s complaint, obtained by Gamasutra and originally mentioned by Patent Arcade, said that when tactile feedback company Immersion sued Sony in 2002 for patent infringement, a Sony attorney approached him seeking information about his work in vibration tech -- the attorney allegedly believed that Thorner’s patents could deem Immersion’s patents invalid. (A judge in 2004 awarded Immersion $82 million in the suit.) Thorner turned down Sony's advances, and claimed that he did not have the resources or experience to “license his patents to, or enforce them against, Sony.” He subsequently licensed his patents to Immersion in a revenue share deal. In turn, Immersion also agreed to enforce Thorner's patents. According to Thorner, knowing that his patents could be a threat to their businesses, Sony and PDP’s lawyers allegedly got together and “contrived to take advantage of Thorner's inexperience and lack of resources in order to (i) obtain a patent license from Thorner on extremely favorable terms, and (ii) induce Thorner to testify against Immersion,” according to the suit. Specifically, the complaint claims that Sony and PDP together planned for PDP, instead of Sony, to negotiate a license with Thorner. Thorner said Sony believed that "it was highly beneficial to have Electrosource [sic] negotiate with Mr. Thorner because if Mr. Thorner was speaking to Sony directly, perhaps he would ask for a much, much higher number." Under the alleged plan, PDP would offer Thorner an advance against royalties in the amount of $150,000 – a sum allegedly “secretly funneled” from Sony to PDP. This plan would benefit Sony, the complaint alleges, because if Thorner would sue Sony directly for patent infringement, it would have cost “50 times more in legal fees alone,” or $7.5 million. PDP would benefit from the alleged setup because Sony would externally fund the amount for royalty advance. Thorner eventually signed the contract with PDP. Thorner is suing the companies for attorney malpractice, fraud, and conspiracy, and is demanding damages from Sony and royalties from PDP.