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Federal court dismisses Wiimote patent case against Nintendo
Nintendo has prevailed in yet another patent lawsuit, this time against Texas company UltimatePointer LLC, regarding a case we first reported on in 2011. UltimatePointer asserted that Nintendo's Wiimote infringed on its patent for an "Easily Deployable Interactive Direct-Pointing System and Presentation Control System and Calibration Method Therefor." In a Seattle federal court, Judge Robert S. Lasnik ruled that the Wiimote does not infringe on UltimatePointer's patent and found that a number of the company's claims were invalid, meaning no trial is required. Nintendo of America Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Richard Medway offered the following statement about the decision: "We are very pleased with these decisions, which confirmed Nintendo's position from the beginning – we do not, nor have we ever, infringed these patents. The result in this case, once again, demonstrates that Nintendo will continue to vigorously defend its innovations against patent lawsuits, even if it must do so in multiple courts and commit significant resources to defend itself. Nintendo continues to support reform efforts to reduce the unnecessary and inefficient burden patent cases like this one place on technology companies in the United States." And now this one gets thrown in the "backlinks about Nintendo patent disputes" pile. Electronics company Philips recently won a dispute in the UK against Nintendo regarding the Wii and Wii U's use of a camera and motion-sensing technology. Nintendo plans to appeal the UK decision, and Philips has filed against Nintendo in the US as well. [Image: Nintendo]
UltimatePointer files patent lawsuit against Nintendo, and, uh, everyone else
It's been kind of a while since Nintendo was sued by someone for purportedly infringing on existing patents, but UltimatePointer LLC is doing just that in a complaint filed just under two weeks ago. The Texas-based LLC claims that Nintendo's Wiimote conflicts with its own patent (no. 7,746,321) for an "Easily Deployable Interactive Direct-Pointing System and Presentation Control System and Calibration Method Therefor." While UltimatePointer's patent was filed way back in May of 2005, it didn't actually receive official status until June of 2010 -- approximately four years after Nintendo launched its Wii console in North America. Bizarrely, UltimatePointer is also suing, like, everyone else even remotely involved with the Nintendo Wii. The complaint notes that the various retailers listed (in addition to Nintendo of Japan and Nintendo of America) are liable due to sales association. In so many words, the retailers were involved in the "making, using, importing, and/or selling" of Wii "systems, games, and related accessories (the 'accused products')," and therefore are just as liable for patent infringement as the hardware manufacturer. Even more bizarrely, the list of defendants includes a scattershot of retail chains in the United States that sell various Wii hardware, including places like QVC and Tiger Direct, but not, say, Amazon or NewEgg. The complaint doesn't request a specific award should UltimatePointer succeed, instead asking that Nintendo of America pay "a reasonable royalty" due to the alleged infringement, in addition to lawyers/court fees and "enhanced damages" owed.
