It's all because of the inherent flaw (re: beuracracy) of the system. I'm sure the filed the papers well over a year ago.
This isn't small claims court. The bigger the claim, the longer it takes. Immersion probably submitted to the court and to Sony/MS a potential long document citing damages for infringement of copyrights (i.e., loss of ownership, loss of royalties/profits, etc).
Also, the greater the symbolism, the longer it takes (it's an a=b thing, it's not explicitly stated anywhere). Take the case of Kevin Mitnick. Yes, his rights were trampled upon. Yes, he was screwed royally. However, it could've been ANY hacker. The outcomes of cases have ramifications far beyond our lifetimes. Hell, the U.S. Government is founded upon a document over 200 years old. This isn't actually true in this particular case, because this thing has happened pretty often before (again, Marconi v. Tesla).
And what people don't seem to understand is it doesn't matter what the circumstances of the case is or who is suing - if there's a direct connection to a past wrong and the wrongdoer was ordered to change but didn't, then the plantiff will always win. Yes, I'm talking about the McDonald's case. Anyone could have won that case, it just so happens it was her. Essentially, it's symbolic, like tobacco cases.
