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Nintendo Loses Controller Patent Lawsuit

Posted by kdawson on from the break-out-the-brain-computer-interface dept.

kryogen1x alerts us to coverage at 1up indicating that Nintendo controller may soon become scarce — Nintendo lost in court to Anascape over analog sticks in their Wii and GameCube controllers.This isn't the first time the big manufacturers have been targeted in lawsuits involving features in their controllers. From the article: "The lawsuit concerns the analog sticks in the Classic Controller and GameCube controllers, which Texas-based Anascape Ltd. claims to hold a patent on that Nintendo violated. The court has ruled in favor of Anascape, and US District Judge Ron Clark has rejected Nintendo's request for a new trial. As a result, Clark said he will put a ban on the sale of the controllers (which includes sales of GameCube systems) starting tomorrow, July 23, unless Nintendo posts a bond or puts royalties into an escrow account."

7 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. Re:As usual ... by DriedClexler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hard to say who to root for, if anyone.

    How about basing your decision on the merit of the case rather than which side you "like" more?

    In any case, the patent is almost certainly overbroad and/or obvious and never should have been issued, and they were only sued in the court that they were because it is notoriously biased in favor of patent trolls.

    --
    Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
  2. Prior art? by eggman9713 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    DOesn't prior art have some bearing on this? I mean, the gamecub controllers have been around for how many years now? And Anascape waits until how long ago to file suit? Can they still defend a patent after this long or am I missing something? Something definitely smells fishy here.

    1. Re:Prior art? by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or you know, just your average government corruption at work. Seriously, there have been loads of controllers that should count as prior art to this patent, unfortunately, anything short of patenting breathing gets patented. And it also doesn't help that these guys waited forever to state the case they had (years after the GameCube). If you run a legitimate business you alert people of patent problems during, or shortly after production of the product, if you run a patent troll operation that takes advantage of the US patent system, you wait until 5-6 years after the product was made and then sue for outrageous damages.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  3. Not enough patent trolls by adah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apparently the big corportations are not hurt enough to change their attitudes towards patents. May more ridiculous patent suits appear, and clear everybody's eyes that patents are sucking and they are obstacles to (rather than protection of) innovation.

  4. Re:I couldn't find info about Anascape by Quila · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What a coincidence, headquartered only a short drive away from Patent Troll Central, a.k.a., the US District Court, Eastern District of Texas.

  5. Re:As usual ... by Quila · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "are popular with plaintiffs because they provide the plaintiff with a predictable litigation timetable"

    And because the Eastern District of Texas is famous for making sure the plaintiff wins most of the time.

  6. Re:I couldn't find info about Anascape by doktorjayd · · Score: 4, Insightful

    did the inventor produce working samples?

    did the inventor ever attempt to manufacture or license his new idea?

    or did he think of ways of joining existing technologies together, patent it, and wait for some poor schlepp to try _actually_ doing it?

    thus, the cries of 'patent troll' appear to be in order here.