2009 patent lawsuit over Nintendo DS dismissed by court
Nintendo emerged victorious this week from a patent infringement lawsuit filed five years ago, after a US District Court dismissed the case outright. Alleged patent troll Wall Wireless sued Nintendo as well as Sony and Nokia in 2009, claiming the companies contravened its patent for the "method and apparatus for creating and distributing real-time interactive media content through wireless communication networks and the internet."
Unfortunately for Wall Wireless, the US Patent and Trademark Office canceled all of the company's relevant patent claims upon re-examination, leaving the case without a leg to stand on. According to Nintendo, the Japanese Patent Office found the company's products didn't infringe on Wall Wireless' patent either. While there's no word from Sony or Nokia on the matter, it seems unlikely either company has much to worry about.
The lawsuit is one of many patent infringement cases Nintendo and companies like it deal with regularly, but sometimes things don't go in their favor. Earlier this year, a US federal judge ruled Nintendo must pay Tomita Technologies 1.82 percent in royalties on the wholesale price of every 3DS and 3DS XL sold, due to infringing on Tomita's 3D tech patent.
This week's news follows reports of a lawsuit against Nintendo from Phillips, with the Dutch company apparently seeking damages for infringement of its "Virtual Body Control Device" and "User Interface System Based on Pointing Device" patents.
