Some time companies copy either by actually paying royalties other times by finding another way to do the same thing. Other times companies develop things that are similar yet one releases it first and any that release it after are called copiers.
Either way in this case the big thing will be if Sony will have games that use it and can get people to buy it. This isn't the six axis and won't be with every controller and getting people to buy new hardware to play one or two games doesn't usually work to well. While the Nintendo has bee able to get massive adoption of the balance board who knows how well any of these others will work out. I wouldn't buy any of this for just one game unless it was a very good game with huge replay value. I'm still not sure if I'll get wii motion +
