Wii MotionPlus patent suit thrown out
A federal judge in Seattle has dismissed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nintendo of America, which claimed that the company's Wii MotionPlus peripheral violated a patent owned by Triton Tech of Texas.
Originally filed way back in the prehistoric times of 2010, the lawsuit named both Nintendo and Apple as defendants, alleging that both companies had violated its patent, No. #5,181,181: "Computer apparatus input device for three-dimensional information."
The abstract, available in full here, describes a device that uses accelerometers and rotational sensors to calculate movement across three dimensions, and then wirelessly transmit that data back to a central computer. While that does sound like a dead ringer for the Wii MotionPlus when put in a nutshell like that, there was evidently enough minutiae in the patent's full-length definitions to keep Nintendo in the clear.
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Seattle Federal Court Dismisses Wii Patent Lawsuit Filed against Nintendo
Triton Tech Suit Dismissed after Transfer
REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A patent-infringement lawsuit brought against Nintendo of America was dismissed by a federal judge in Seattle. Triton had alleged that Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus accessory infringed one of Triton's patents (U.S. Patent No. 5,181,181). Judge Richard A. Jones of the U.S. District Court dismissed the lawsuit following a ruling that rejected Triton's legal arguments. Triton had initially filed suit in Texas, but Nintendo won a transfer to Seattle.
"We feel vindicated by the court's ruling," said Richard Medway, Nintendo of America's deputy general counsel. "Nintendo's track record demonstrates that we vigorously defend patent lawsuits, like the Triton lawsuit, when we believe that we have not infringed another party's patent. Consumers respect Nintendo because we develop unique and innovative products, and because we respect the intellectual property rights of others."
About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.1 billion video games and more than 654 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™ and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company's website at http://www.nintendo.com.
