The acquisition of Digital Equipment Corp by Compaq Computer Corp has resulted in the sell-off of odd corners of Digital’s operations that Compaq isn’t interested in. The latest to go are some intellectual property rights to haptics technology, which have been sold off to San Jose, California-based Immersion Corp. Immersion launched its I-Force force-feedback technology for giving joysticks, steering wheels and other computer peripherals the property of feel back in 1995, mostly aiming it at the games industry. It has since licensed the technology to Logitech International, ThrustMaster Inc, Taiwan’s Primax Electronics Ltd and others. Immersion also invented the Feelit Mouse, a mouse which enables users to feel their software. Six year-old Immersion, which is looking beyond the games market to medical simulation, education and the internet, gets assigned patent rights to certain torque feedback technologies from Digital for an undisclosed amount of money consisting of a technology transfer fee and stock in the privately held company. Torque feedback technology will enhance the realism felt by the player, said Immersion.
