Following a two-year-long legal dispute between Anascape, a small Texan gaming company, and Nintendo of America, a federal judge today ruled in favor of the former, ordering Nintendo to get its checkbook and pay the sum of $21 million in damages for infringing patents covering technology such as ‘Variable Sensor with tactile Feedback’, and ‘3D Controller with Vibration’ amongst others.

The lawsuit successfully argued that Nintendo infringed on Anascape’s patents while designing its Wii Classic, WaveBird and GameCube controllers. Nintendo of course intends to appeal and expects the court to considerably reduce the aforementioned amount of money that needs to be paid. Microsoft was also the subject of a related suit from Anascape but chose to settle out of court rather than face a full trial.