The issue seems to be a problem with the analog thumb stick, which is located on the PSP directly under the "Plus" pad. Creative Labs has a patent on the design from 2001 which describes the analog thumb stick in detail, and was planned to be used on a never released portable media player.
The analog stick on the Creative media player allowed smooth, proportional fast-forward and rewind functions, as well as selecting next and previous tracks. The farther you moved the stick in the left or right direction, the faster it would rewind or fast-forward, same with scrolling songs by using up and down.
Until the analog thumb stick can be replaced or modified in such a way that it no longer violates that patent, PSPs will be pulled from the shelves.
Written by Pikoro
Thursday, 31 March 2005
Well, Sony has done it again.
In a case similar to the 90 million dollars they must pay for copyright infringement to Immersion Corporation, Sony has been ordered by a California court to stop shipping the PSP to the US and indefinately delay the Korean and European launches as well until compliance with the court's decision can be met.
The issue seems to be a problem with the analog thumb stick, which is located on the PSP directly under the "Plus" pad. Creative Labs has a patent on the design from 2001 which describes the analog thumb stick in detail, and was planned to be used on a never released portable media player.
The analog stick on the Creative media player allowed smooth, proportional fast-forward and rewind functions, as well as selecting next and previous tracks. The farther you moved the stick in the left or right direction, the faster it would rewind or fast-forward, same with scrolling songs by using up and down.
Until the analog thumb stick can be replaced or modified in such a way that it no longer violates that patent, PSPs will be pulled from the shelves.
Users who currently own PSPs can return them to their place of purchase for a complete refund, or in exchange for a coupon that you can later trade for the revised PSP model.
For more details of the lawsuit, and participating return locations, click the "Read more..." link below.
Oh, and April Fools.
I've got 99 problems and I'm not dealing with any of them - Lay-Z