Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

[17R3W]

Nintendo maybe following in the long standing tradion of violating patents on Video Game controllers.
IGN had this to say:

Originally Posted by http://wii.ign.com/articles/750/750001p1.html

Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement
The Wiimote may not be as unique as we thought.
by Micah Seff

December 8, 2006 - In a surprising turn of events, Nintendo is already the target of litigious action concerning its newly released Wii console. California-based Interlink electronics has filed a complaint against Nintendo for what it has deemed to be a case of copyright infringement over the pointing functionalities of the Wiimote.

Gaming blog Kotaku has obtained a court filing, issued by the US District Court of Delaware, which accuses Nintendo of infringing on a patent filed previously by Interlink Electronics. The court filing claims that Interlink Electronics has suffered "loss of reasonable royalties, reduced sales and/or lost profits as a result of the infringing activities of" Nintendo.



The claim refers to a patent filed in February, 2005 which refers to a device titled "Trigger Operated Electronic Device." The patent describes the advice as a "trigger operated device in the nature of a pointing device for use with an electronic system such as a computer." The patent continues to describe a device which, on the surface, sounds an awful like the Wii's controller.

The complaint demands that Nintendo be enjoined and restrained from further infringing on the patent, presumably by taking the Wii off the market. Furthermore, the filing demands that the court order Nintendo to pay Interlink three times the assessed damages, including prejudgment interests and attorney fees. Additionally, the plaintiff is demanding a jury trial of any and
all issues pertaining to the case.

[Pilot_51]

I think patents are going too far, companies shouldn't be punished for developing something partially the same as a product from a small company they never knew about. Patents are too broad for this age of technology, it should be limited to only the obvious (like Sony copying off of Nintendo). The only reason for these lawsuits happening so long after the announcement of the device (especially in the case of the Dual Shock) is so those small companies can get a massive profit from the sales, it probably doesn't harm their sales one bit since they're usually targeting a completely different audience with different uses for the device. Also the cost per device for a small company is probably at least double what it costs larger companies, which basically lets them rack up the charge so much that it hurts the big company. It's not only the patent system, the court system is pretty bad too, which likely means Nintendo will lose the lawsuit and in the worst case scenario Wii will be taken off the shelves.

[Lite_Noxus]

Oh well, too bad. I don't think this article was a suprise to many including myself because all the gaming companies are being sued for something nowadays. I think it's getting out of hand.

[yez]

Are you serouse! man that sucks i wanted to buy the wii! Also that means they'll take the wii games off the shelves too!

[bignds]

I couldve predicted this a week after they unveiled the wiimote.
And yez, dont be silly.

[Lkr]

Originally Posted by yez

Are you serouse! man that sucks i wanted to buy the wii! Also that means they'll take the wii games off the shelves too!

no it doesn't. they still have a court case, plus, Nintendo could reach an agreement with them

[bignds]

These sorts of cases rarely make it to proper court.

[17R3W]

"trigger operated device in the nature of a pointing device for use with an electronic system such as a computer"
is the part that gets me.
Doesn't that sound like the Nintendo ZAPPER?
Additionally, this decieve seems to work in only two demensions, (X,Y) where as the whole point of the WiiMote is that works in 6 (X,Y,Z,pitch,Roll,Yaw).

[Luineancaion]

Patents are screwed up... And Pilot you have things wrong, patents don't cover copying, that is copyright. Also everyone including companies should be free to copy and improve the work of others. As Newton said "If I saw so far, it was only because I stood upon the shoulders of giants". If companies couldn't copy and improve the work of others, we'd be so far behind with technology.

Patents are stupid, they give a monopoly on ideas, even if you come up with the idea all on your own and never saw someone elses version of something similar you can be sued for it. Even worse, in America, it is a first to file system, even if someone had created a device before you, but had not patented it, you could then go patent it and try to sue them as you were the first to file for the patent.

Patents are meant to be used for only original and non-obvious creations/inventions. But the patent system is screwed up, infact a patent lawyer in Australia, to show how screwed up the system is, managed to get a patent on the wheel!!!

[ShadowMarth]

Luineancaion! Your name was really hard to spell just now! But welcome back!

Anyway, I agree completely. They say the average a patent is reviewed in its entire life, not just before it's approved, is 8 hours. The patent office is so undermanned and underpowered that it's basically just an engine for lawsuits.