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Nintendo escapes patent troll in appeals court -- thanks to Sony
About, oh -- four years ago -- a little Texas company called Anascape sued Nintendo and Microsoft for ostensibly violating its controller patents. Microsoft settled. Nintendo didn't. Anascape won. One $21 million judgment, two years and countless legal bills later, Nintendo has finally emerged victorious over the patent troll. This week, a Federal Circuit Court overturned two earlier decisions, ruling that Nintendo's GameCube, WaveBird and Wii Classic Controllers don't violate Anascape's six-degrees-of-freedom patent, because Anascape only added that 6DOF claim to its patent in 2000... making Sony's original DualShock controller -- released in 1998 -- prior art. Game, set, match.
Nintendo wins appeal in Anascape suit
There's a reasonable chance that you don't remember Anascape. Perhaps you remember the company that took Microsoft and Nintendo to court over its video game controller patents a few years back -- ring a bell? Specifically, in 2008, Nintendo was ordered to pay Anascape $21 million and faced the possibility of WaveBird, GameCube and Wii Classic Controllers being banned from sale. At the time, the fine and possible retail bans were put on hold while Nintendo appealed the case to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Now, nearly two years later, the court has officially overturned the original verdict, nullifying the fine and potential bans. In a brief statement, Nintendo of America general council Rick Flamm said, "Today the Federal Circuit's ruling confirmed that none of Nintendo's controllers infringe. We appreciate that our position has been vindicated." For the record, this isn't Nintendo's first patent infringement lawsuit and, given the history of such cases in the game industry, we doubt it will be its last.
Nintendo hit with another controller lawsuit
Remember that whole Hillcrest Laboratories thing and the Anascape debacle? Seems Nintendo just can't catch a break, as another small company has stepped up and claimed patent infringement against Nintendo for its Wiimote. The latest, filed on November 10th, comes courtesy of Motiva, a small company based out of Ohio. They claim that Nintendo has infringed on U.S. patent (7,292,151) titled "Human Movement Measurement System."Motiva is claiming royalties, damages, and attorney fees for their patent, which was originally filed as a rehabilitation aid, however, in the applications section of their patent, they do list video games. So Nintendo and Motiva will now do the courtroom shuffle sometime soon and we'll be sure to update you all when there's more on the matter.
People panic buying Classic Controllers
The panicked consumer is a predictable beast. Upon hearing that the Wii's Classic Controller might be withdrawn from sale in the near future, more and more customers have been scurrying to pick up the sleek, Virtual Console-compatible pad. Sales at Amazon have shot up by 207% after a court threatened to ban further sales of the $19.99 peripheral unless Nintendo coughed up a bond. As the Classic Controller is still on sale around the 'net, we can only assume that Nintendo did indeed pay up, though the company isn't out of the woods yet: Nintendo will be taking its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, where it will hope to prevent an outright ban.
Nintendo loses another round in controller patent lawsuit
Sony and Microsoft may have sorted things out with Anascape (otherwise known as the self-proclaimed ruler of all analog sticks) before things got too out of hand, but Nintendo has been busy fighting it out with the company in court, which resulted in them being ordered to dish out a hefty $21 million earlier this year -- a ruling that Nintendo naturally appealed. The big N is now facing another setback, however, as a US District Judge has rejected Nintendo's request for a new trial, which could potentially result in a ban on sales of Wii Classic Controllers, WaveBirds, and GameCube controllers (not to mention GameCube systems). To avoid that, Nintendo will apparently either have to post a bond or put royalties from the controllers into an escrow account. For its part, Nintendo seems to be remaining defiant, saying that it "was already planning to appeal this case to the Federal Circuit court," and that this new ruling "does not impact that decision." [Via Slashdot]
Some Nintendo controllers could get yanked from store shelves
Remember that recent lawsuit that didn't work out in Nintendo's favor? Then they tried to appeal and failed? Yeah, things aren't looking so hot for Nintendo right now. And the latest on this debacle, courtesy of Bloomberg, doesn't look good for the house that Mario built.U.S. District Judge Ron Clark denied Nintendo's appeal for a new trial. In Lufkin, Texas, Clark said that he planned to ban further sales of Nintendo's Wii Classic Controller, WaveBird controller and Nintendo GameCube, but must wait for another appeal from Nintendo (this one is headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) to go through. Judge Clark is set to issue this ban tomorrow, unless Nintendo posts a bond or puts royalties into an escrow account, which will then stop the ban.Thankfully for Nintendo, the Wiimote and Nunchuk controllers both have been recognized as not violating Anascape's patent. So, sales of each of these peripherals should not be affected by all of this.
Certain Nintendo controllers face retail ban
Nintendo could see its GameCube, Wavebird and Wii Classic Controller banned from retail shelves. Bloomberg reports that Nintendo has lost its attempt to overturn a $21 million patent-infringement verdict brought against the company by patent trolls patent holders Anascape Ltd. of Tyler, Texas. The house of Mario has a stay on the ban by putting the judgment amount in escrow until its case goes to the US Court of Appeals in the Federal Circuit.The Texas jury found the Wiimote and Nunchuk controllers did not violate Anascape's patent; previously, Sony paid off Anascape back in 2004 and Microsoft settled on May 1, just before the Nintendo trial began. Anascape argued for the ban because it wants to enter the market and Nintendo has "clogged the channel." Yeah, we're very much looking forward to seeing if the third-party Anascape controller ever gets released.
Court denies Nintendo's appeal in patent infringement lawsuit
Nintendo is officially down $21 million. After a recent court ruling that declared Nintendo the loser in a patent infringement case, Nintendo appealed the $21 million penalty sum, hoping to have the charge reduced. Anascape Ltd. was the plaintiff in the case (and potential receiver of large amounts of cash), claiming that Nintendo violated their patents when making the GameCube, Classic, Wavebird, and Wiimote controllers.A judge denied Nintendo's appeal, finding that the sum was fair based on the evidence. Anascape, obviously, was happy about the outcome, with the lead council saying, "We appreciate the Court's thoughtful consideration in upholding the jury's decision. Although not a giant corporation like Nintendo, Anascape has every right to protect its technology." Since the patent affects all of Nintendo's most recent controllers, we wonder if this will have any impact on Nintendo's future designs or technologies.
Nintendo ordered to pay $21 million for patent infringement
Nintendo has been ordered to pay $21 million to Anascape Ltd. for infringing on a patent with its Gamecube and Wii Classic controllers. The AP reports Anascape Ltd., a "small East Texas gaming company," also sued Microsoft, but that was settled out of court. Nintendo says it will appeal the decision.A representative for Nintendo stated that no infringement was found in any of the Wii's motion-sensing technology and it expects that on appeal the award to Anascape will be reduced "significantly." Remember kids, if you want to stick it to some big corporation in the future and cash in, just make patents for everything imaginable.
Nintendo ordered to pay $21 million to patent troll
Remember Anascape Ltd, the little "gaming company" that sued Microsoft and Nintendo back in 2006 for controller patent infringement? Well, it's payday to the tune of $21 million after a jury found Nintendo's Wii Classic, WaveBird, and Gamecube controller designs all guilty of violating Anascape's patents. Nintendo will appeal naturally while Microsoft settled the case before the matter ever went to trial. Now go ahead and Google Anascape with the challenge of finding a single service or product offering. Oh, did we mention that they are based in the patent-lawsuit friendly state of Tejas? Patent Trolls? Oh, you betcha.Anascape... there is none.
Holy moly... lawsuit overload for consoles
Anascape Ltd. wants to make some money, fast. They can't quite decide on a new marketing scheme, or an innovative product. Someone jokingly suggests they sue the big console companies for a dozen patent infringements. The boss likes the idea and they do. Yes, that's right. Nintendo and Microsoft are under fire from this company for breaching patents on game controllers. Joystiq does a nice job of recounting the numerous charges, so to save redundancy, they will be omitted here. But, twelve? That's a lot.You may have noticed Sony isn't involved in this one. But, looking at the charges, especially, well, all of them, Sony's controller should be in the middle of this one also. But it isn't! Hooray? Even so, if Anascape wins this case, Microsoft and Nintendo will have to bleed money. Will it help PS3 gain ground in the next console war? Doubtfully, but at least for once there's a patent lawsuit where Sony isn't getting manhandled. Still... how many of these lawsuits are popping up? If there's a season for tornadoes, there's a season for "get rich quick by suing bigger companies" season. One of these is a lot longer than the other.
Microsoft, Nintendo taken to court over controllers
Anascape Ltd has filed suit in a Texas district court against Microsoft and Nintendo for alleged infringements on a variety of controller patents. Check out the full list of patents that this case is going after: 5,999,084: "Variable Conductance Sensor" 6,102,802: "Game Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor" 6,135,886: "Variable Conductance Sensor with Elastomeric Dome Cap" 6,208,271: "Remote Controller with Analog Button" 6,222,525: "Image Controller with Sheet Connected Sensors" 6,343,991: "Game Control with Analog Pressure Sensor" 6,344,791: "Variable Sensor with Tactile Feedback" 6,347,997: "Analog Controls Housed with Electronic Displays" 6,351,205: "Variable Conductance Sensor" 6,400,303: "Remote Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor" 6,563,415: "Analog Sensor with Snap Through Tactile Feedback" 6,906,700: "3D Controller with Vibration" Phew, that's quite a lot. You can also view a PDF of the complaint here.[Thanks, Jeremy]
