George Hotz really doesn’t appear to be taking his legal troubles with Sony very seriously. This was evidenced in his freestyle rap that made its rounds throughout the internet last month. Sony is currently trying to convince the court that California is the proper state to hold its trial instead of Hotz’s state of New Jersey. Lawyers on both sides have been trying to get an argumentative advantage over the other, but it’ll be hard to defend why Hotz recently decided to pick up and head to South America.

Sony was just on the losing end of a court battle. The Intellectual Property High Court in Japan has ordered Sony to pay 5.1 million yen, or roughly $60,000 to a former employee. The plaintiff, Hidehiro Kume, felt Sony had not acknowledged his contributions when he was employed with the company. Kume is the inventor of an optical pickup that was used to read and record information on discs used in the PSOne and PS2.

Microsoft recently won a court case that has been going on since 2004. The plaintiffs in this case, Peter A. Hochstein, Jeffrey Tenenbaum and Harold Milton Jr., claimed that Sony and Microsoft infringed on their patent that would allow two videogames to be played at the same time on two different machines. In layman’s terms, the three were suing Microsoft and Sony over the technology behind online multiplayer.

Here’s a breakdown of the case. Plaintiff Keiona Nash was suing her ex-boyfriend Marcel Scott because he allegedly stealing her PlayStation 3. Clearly this is a case of a relationship gone south and someone is looking for revenge. However that’s not the sad part about this case. Keiona entered into a rent to own plan with Rent-A-Center back when the PS3 was still carrying a heavy $400 price tag.

Dogs and cats are living together. Rainbows are everywhere. Jack Thompson has been permanently disbarred.

The Florida lawyer, who is best known to gamers as that dern lawyer who keeps hatin’ on our fun, was disbarred yesterday (September 25, 2008). The disbarment begins 30 days from yesterday so he can close out his practice, so expect some last-minute antics if not long-term appeals (which needs to be submitted by a lawyer in good standing with the Florida Bar – good luck). He’s also to pay $43,675 in Florida Bar fees.

Thompson sent Kotaku a copy of an emergency motion he filed with the court and a…

Nintendo, which once became infamous for being stingy with its own hardware licensing, is being accused of unlawfully using another company’s. Texas-based Lonestar Inventions LP recently filed a suit against Nintendo, charging that the Wii has infringed on Lonestar’s 1993 patent.

Lonestar patented a structure for capacitors which took up less space by using parallel conducting stripes. The suit alleges the same design appears in the Nintendo product. The company is seeking triple damages, though no specific amount was reported, and an injunction against Nintendo from using the disputed technology.

Lonestar has won suits against other companies for …