Federal court overturns $10 million Wii Remote patent judgement against Nintendo

[Polycount]

In context: We all know court cases can take a while to resolve, but some last considerably longer than others. Indeed, gaming giant Nintendo has been fighting one legal battle that began way back in 2013. Now, almost seven years later, that fight has come to an end.

Nintendo today announced that a Dallas federal court has ruled in its favor regarding a 2013 patent dispute filed by iLife Technologies Inc. The court says the patents asserted against Nintendo's technology, the Wii Remote in particular, are "not valid," and thus cannot be used to sue for damages or other forms of patent infringement-related compensation.

According to Nintendo, iLife was "inpermissibly" attempting to use its early motion sensor patents to cover a broad range of devices. iLife initially seemed to have the advantage in its suit -- a jury awarded the company a $10.1 million verdict, but recently, that ruling was overturned.

Frankly, we're not sure that such a small sum would have made much of a dent in Nintendo's bottom line. The gaming behemoth is worth billions of dollars nowadays, so $10 million probably would have been little more than a drop in the bucket. Further, it's possible that Nintendo's legal fees related to this case already came close to the $10 million mark -- skilled corporate lawyers are expensive, and 7 years is a long time to pay for that tier of legal help.

Regardless, Nintendo is obviously pleased with this ruling. "Nintendo has a long history of developing new and unique products, and we are pleased that, after many years of litigation, the court agreed with Nintendo," Nintendo of America Deputy General Counsel Ajay Singh said in a statement. "We will continue to vigorously defend our products against companies seeking to profit off of technology they did not invent."

Image credit: Shutterstock (2)

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83642-federal-court-overturns-10-million-wii-remote-patent.html

 

[Evernessince]

You know it's bad when patent trolls can't even win in the state that favors them most.

 

[VitalyT]

You know it's bad when patent trolls can't even win in the state that favors them most.

Also, the best outcome for any leech is to get squashed.

 

[Squid Surprise]

"Frankly, we're not sure that such a small sum would have made much of a dent in Nintendo's bottom line. The gaming behemoth is worth billions of dollars nowadays, so $10 million probably would have been little more than a drop in the bucket. Further, it's possible that Nintendo's legal fees related to this case already came close to the $10 million mark -- skilled corporate lawyers are expensive, and 7 years is a long time to pay for that tier of legal help."

This isn't the point... had they lost, they would then have been on the hook for MORE lawsuits - ones asking for a percentage of the revenue made by the Wii during its lifetime - which could have run into the hundreds of millions. By winning this case, they have saved themselves the risk of this, as well as future legal fees...

 

[Uncle Al]

We have seen so many of these kinds of legal actions I'm a little surprised that the legislature hasn't come up with some new laws to keep this junk out of court. Something simple that states that all patents may be copied with the stipulation that a 15% tax free gratuity must be paid to the originator for a period of 25 years. That would insure income, keep price points competitive and eliminate wasted court time. Wait, that makes sense ..... they'll never go for it!