Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

[CaptainZombie]

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

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

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.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

Trigger operated?

[DXZeke]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

Well, this doesn't surprise me.

Sony and MS got sued by Immersion.... and lost

Now Nintendo is getting sued by Interlink.

NONE OF IT SURPRSIES ME!

All 3 of the big compaines scour for new ideas. If they see one that they think they can copy and get away with, then why not? They are so huge that most small companies can't compete with them and in the end, paying them off, Much like MS did is a lot less costly than say fighting them and losing like Sony did with Immersion and coughing up even more cash.

VIVA LA THEIFS!!!

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

Well, this doesn't surprise me.

Sony and MS got sued by Immersion.... and lost

Now Nintendo is getting sued by Interlink.

NONE OF IT SURPRSIES ME!

All 3 of the big compaines scour for new ideas. If they see one that they think they can copy and get away with, then why not? They are so huge that most small companies can't compete with them and in the end, paying them off, Much like MS did is a lot less costly than say fighting them and losing like Sony did with Immersion and coughing up even more cash.

VIVA LA THEIFS!!!

Wouldn't that be something else if Nintendo had to take the Wiimote/Nachuck functionality out of the Wii. They would be screwed.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

I'm guessing even if Nintendo had been working on the remote/developed it before this company got their patent, it wouldn't matter?

[Rodster]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

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

oops

[RubenDouglas]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

noone even knew about them before this.. how could they be losing on ssales?

i hate politics. now everyone will hate them. i do too now

[Skyboxer]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

I don't think Nintendo will lose this. The "other" device looks like a regular pointer with a trigger. The WiiMote is not a pointer but rather it gathers/reads the light from the sensor, right?
Anyways I don't think it will be an issue for Nintendo, but I've seen stranger things.

[Misfit]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

The technology that allows the remote to send and receive signals from a television set is incredibly basic and primitive. Whether Nintendo can be sued over how that technology is applied is cloudy. Either way, this won't halt production on the Wii at all.

[DXZeke]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

If they have a strong enough defense and patents for the Wii-Mote that date Pre-2005, then it's not even a case at that point.

More than likely you'll see this thing settled out of court unless Nintendo really feels it has a strong enough case.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

Yeah, let's see if this new product makes a lot of money, and when it does, we can sue for infringement, because our piece of crap product never came to fruition...but they stole our idea anyway.

[Goffs]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

why not sue nintendo before the release of the Wii? feh a no name company just trying to get some publicity.....

[Bacardi151]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

why not sue nintendo before the release of the Wii? feh a no name company just trying to get some publicity.....

its simple. You sue when you see they are making money, and not any time before.

its lawyer 101 or something

I doubt this thing will fly. I believe there are examples of "prior art" which Nintendo will probably use initially as a defense.

Funny thing; there are people setting up websites now boycotting any companies who use interlink products.

[ESPNdeportes]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

why not sue nintendo before the release of the Wii? feh a no name company just trying to get some publicity.....

Eh, they just want some cash out of it.

[Goffs]

Re: Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

heh...the call for cancellation of the Wii is a bit much...Nintendo will bite em back hard like they did against Universal ...the no name company will really be a no name company if nintendo decides to counter

Kong vs. Kong

"In 1982, at the height of Donkey Kong's popularity, Universal City Studios sent an ultimatum to Nintendo, claiming copyright infringement. They argued that the name, characters, and theme of the Donkey Kong arcade game were too similar to that of their 1933 horror film, King Kong. Universal demanded the immediate discontinuation of any further marketing of the Donkey Kong characters and ordered the destruction of all remaining Donkey Kong inventory. They also demanded royalties from all past sales of the Donkey Kong game and related merchandise.
When Nintendo refused, Universal filed a lawsuit against Nintendo of America on June 29, 1982. Almost all companies that had been marketing the Donkey Kong characters quickly ended their contacts with Nintendo out of the fear that they too could be held legally liable.
Nintendo was essentially found not guilty on a technicality. In the resulting trial, it was ultimately decided that the King Kong motion picture had expired copyright and was now legally in the public domain. The judge ruled that Universal could thus assert no claims over the King Kong character or the movie's themes.
In 1985 Nintendo counter-sued Universal. As punishment for the studio's efforts to scare away Nintendo's merchandising clients, Universal was ordered to pay Nintendo $1.8 million to make up for lost revenues.
Howard Lincoln, who was the leading Nintendo defense lawyer in the case, would go on to become President of Nintendo America as a direct result of his performance."