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Microsoft just got back $20.75 million of the nearly $27 million it gave to Immersion six years ago. Perhaps this contributed to the willy-nilly half a billion dollar investment it just made in acquiring Greenfield Online.

The Past

Microsoft and Immersion have had a complicated past of trading legal licks, and got Sony caught up in it as well. Mark Hachman at PC Magazine shares a history lesson:

In 2002, Immersion sued both companies, alleging that the "rumble" technology it had developed was illegally being used in controllers used by Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation. Microsoft settled, paying Immersion about $27 million. But according to a sublicense agreement contained in the settlement, Immersion would have been required to pay back some of the money to Microsoft if it sublicensed its technology to another game platform, such as Sony, which it eventually did.

The Present

To make a long and confusing story short, Immersion and Microsoft are buddy-buddy now, with Immersion even becoming part of Microsoft's certified partner program. Microsoft still lost several million dollars over the whole battle, which is probably why Immersion is not too bitter about it all. They did still come out on top even if the victory appears to belong to Microsoft.

What's a few million to Microsoft anyway? Both companies are surely just ready to put it all behind them and move forward.