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Nintendo Suffers $21M Patent Infringement Award

Posted by timothy on from the patent-rolling-your-eyes-derisively dept.

CowTipperGore writes "The AP reports (via Yahoo!) that Nintendo of America Inc. has been ordered to pay a small East Texas gaming company $21 million for infringing on a patent while designing controllers for its popular Wii and GameCube systems. No stranger to lawsuits over controller designs, a Nintendo spokesman said the company will seek an appeal. The suit was originally filed in 2006 and included Microsoft. Microsoft's aggressive legal push back apparently helped as they reached a (confidential) settlement agreement before the case went to trial."

19 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Suffering Succotash by nuzak · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'd like to "suffer" a $21 award.

    --
    Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    1. Re:Suffering Succotash by nuzak · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually a $21M award would be better. What a difference a letter makes.

      --
      Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    2. Re:Suffering Succotash by LordSkippy · · Score: 5, Informative

      The title is badly worded. The $21M award went to Anascape Ltd., the people suing Nintendo. So, Nintendo does suffer the award to another company. The wording of the title does make it sound like Nintendo is both the receiver and sufferer of the award.

      --
      My karma is in a nose dive
    3. Re:Suffering Succotash by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Meh, it's good enough to point out that this was the value awarded, not the value sued for. It comes out to less than a dollar per Wiimote...

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  2. Well... by Kingrames · · Score: 2, Funny

    At least they wiil appeal the ruling.

    --
    If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
    1. Re:Well... by oahazmatt · · Score: 5, Funny

      At least they wiil appeal the ruling. Why bother? It'd be easier to auction off a few Wiis under assumed eBay accounts to make-up the difference.
      --
      Those who believe the Internet is private,
      find their privates are on the Internet.
    2. Re:Well... by powerlord · · Score: 2, Funny

      At least they wiil appeal the ruling.

      Why bother? It'd be easier to auction off a few Wiis under assumed eBay accounts to make-up the difference.


      I can see it now:

      When contacted for comment, Nintendo of America issued this press release:

      "Wii would like to Pay"

      and suggested interested parties should check new eBay auctions.
      --
      This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
  3. Patentability by Azaril · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I know its been said many times before, but how are any of these patentable? A 3d controller with vibration - how can a patent office and a judge believe that qualifies as non-obvious and novel? Not only that, but on all of these controllers surely all of the playstation controllers, the n64 controller, dreamcast constitute prior art?

    1. Re:Patentability by hansamurai · · Score: 3, Informative
      Actually it doesn't seem to have anything to do with motion control.

      The jury found that Nintendo infringed on Anascape's patent while designing its Wii Classic, WaveBird and Gamecube controllers.

      Scibettra said Nintendo was pleased no infringement was found with the motion-sensing technology used in its wandlike Wii and Nuncheck controllers, which mimic movements by users in games such as tennis and boxing. None of those controllers have motion sensing in them.
      --
      Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
    2. Re:Patentability by KDR_11k · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It does not matter if the judge knows that company is a patent troll, there are no laws that say patent trolls cannot sue for infringement and the judge's job is to apply existing law, not create new laws on a whim.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    3. Re:Patentability by Uncle+Focker · · Score: 2, Interesting

      and there is no right to privacy outlined in the constitution. Looks like another person who has failed to read the 9th Amendment.

      The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Monster. Fucking. Fail.
    4. Re:Patentability by Khyber · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you bothered to RTFA, you'd find out it wasn't the judge but a federal jury that found in favor of Anascape.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    5. Re:Patentability by OMNIpotusCOM · · Score: 3, Funny

      Under this new logic, there's seemingly ENDLESS things you can use the Constitution to prove. I heard the founding fathers didn't want us to smoke... I think that's in the 9th Amendment too. Amazazing!

  4. It's the analog shoulder buttons by tepples · · Score: 4, Informative

    A 3d controller with vibration - how can a patent office and a judge believe that qualifies as non-obvious and novel? Only the claims of a patent, not its title, have legal force. But I did read the list of patent titles from "suit was originally filed". Taking into account the aspects infringing products (Xbox controller, GameCube controller, and Wii Classic Controller) and the titles of the patents, I guess that the patents cover some aspect of the analog L and R shoulder buttons on those controllers. The claims of U.S. Patent 6,344,791 appear to cover specifically the tactile detent that the player feels when pressing the GCN controller's L and R buttons all the way.
    1. Re:It's the analog shoulder buttons by Khyber · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You get the exact same feedback from the Super Nintendo controller's shoulder buttons. This company is indeed a patent troll and neds t be labeled as a vexatious litigant.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  5. Dumb patents abound by CogDissident · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, you do know Nintendo owns the patents on both: Water reflections in a video game The concept of "high score" Of course, they're not dumb enough to use them, but as part of their star fox 64 patent, they included those as sub-technologies that were patented, and it was approved.

  6. how? by Dart524 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    iv'e never seen a controller by these people how can they have a patent for something that no one has seen or heard about thats like me thinking about making a special kind of rocketship getting a patent then scrap the idea and sue anyone who tries to make the idea

    1. Re:how? by Valcrus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Thats the problem with the current patent system. You could potentially do just that. Its not fool proof but that is pretty much what these companies are doing. They will buy or create a patent and then sit around until some company makes something close to the patent then sue them and try to get a settlement out of them.

  7. Who are these people? by archammer2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    After doing a 30-second search for "Anascape", the only thing I could find on them are the law suits. Though, to be fair, most every gaming news site is covering this one. Still, who are these people? Have they done anything besides file the patents and then smack down anyone that uses "their technology"? Side note: Something the summary doesn't mention. Anascape originally sued Sony over the Playstation controllers. Then, they went after Microsoft and Nintendo at the same time. They don't seem to have any problems with the wiimote yet. Just the classic controller and the Gamecube controller.