<p>After four years in court, the district court of Tokyo has ordered Sigma to pay up for their infringement of Nikon's VR lens-stabilization technology to the tune of 1.5 billion yen or about 14.5 million USD.</p><p>Originally filed back in 2011, the lawsuit claimed six Sigma lenses were making use of proprietary technology owned by Nikon. Nikon was looking for 12 billion yen (about 116 million dollars) when the motion was initially filed, but while they didn't get nearly as much as they wanted, they definitely made a statement to Sigma (and the rest of the market for that matter) with the payout.</p><p>Here's a quick summary of the judgement that explains why the courts ruled the way they did, and how they came up with the $14.5M figure:</p><p>Nikon obtained the patent related to VR technology in 2002. The content of the patented invention relates to technology wherein a vibration detection device, which detects the amount of camera vibration at angles around photographic objects, prevents the influence of vibration of a motor for lens and thereby allows more accurate photo shots. Sigma affirms that the scope of the patented invention does not include any functions which reduce the influence of camera shake.</p><p><a href="http://petapixel.com/2014/03/11/nikon-awarded-14-5m-vr-pantent-suit-sigma/">Keep reading...</a></p>