Sir Clinksalot Posted December 8, 2006 Posted December 8, 2006 http://wii.ign.com/articles/750/750001p1.html Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement The Wiimote may not be as unique as we thought. by Micah Seff December 8, 2006 - In a surprising turn of events, Nintendo is already the target of litigious action concerning its newly released Wii console. California-based Interlink electronics has filed a complaint against Nintendo for what it has deemed to be a case of copyright infringement over the pointing functionalities of the Wiimote. Gaming blog Kotaku has obtained a court filing, issued by the US District Court of Delaware, which accuses Nintendo of infringing on a patent filed previously by Interlink Electronics. The court filing claims that Interlink Electronics has suffered "loss of reasonable royalties, reduced sales and/or lost profits as a result of the infringing activities of" Nintendo. The claim refers to a patent filed in February, 2005 which refers to a device titled "Trigger Operated Electronic Device." The patent describes the advice as a "trigger operated device in the nature of a pointing device for use with an electronic system such as a computer." The patent continues to describe a device which, on the surface, sounds an awful like the Wii's controller. The complaint demands that Nintendo be enjoined and restrained from further infringing on the patent, presumably by taking the Wii off the market. Furthermore, the filing demands that the court order Nintendo to pay Interlink three times the assessed damages, including prejudgment interests and attorney fees. Additionally, the plaintiff is demanding a jury trial of any and all issues pertaining to the case.
Vekoma Fan Boy Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 Oh yeah. I Hope the Wii can last till the end of February.
Ed Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 Pfft. Like Nintendo will lose. They can probably afford to buy the other company out.
Golfie Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 Pfft. Like Nintendo will lose. They can probably afford to buy the other company out. 100% agreed. How many times have you heard of "Inerlink Electronics"?
Blazen_AZN Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 The Wii is going nowhere. What ever happend to the rumble patent lawsuit against Microsoft and Sony? Exactly.
Angry_Gumball Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 Pfft. Like Nintendo will lose. They can probably afford to buy the other company out. 100% agreed. How many times have you heard of "Inerlink Electronics"? Eh.....I actually use one of these things at church to run the powerpoint....It is actually nothing like the Wiimote other than it's shape. To move the cursor, I have to actually use this round button...not motion sensitive. I hope Nintendo doesn't get screwed out on it. By the way, this is exactly what I use: The only cursor I can physically move using my arm is if I use the laser pointer...otherwise, I have to use the pressure-sensitive d-pad....(Nintendo, sue 'em for the pressure sensitive d-pad! I believe Nintendo pioneered the whole analog stick anyway...)
Calaway Park Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 Their sueing for the B Trigger.. Oh my god.. PUBLICITY STUNT. They're losing sales because a videogame has a similar remote to one for a PC? They have no relation! Really, they do totally different things, how are they losing sales? How about Nintendo shows them the Z Trigger button on the N64 controller... Pattented in 1996...
roasted_marshmallow Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 Why didn't they bring it up before the Wii was launched? It's not like the controller was a secret. Oh, that's right. If they had done so, Wiis wouldn't have sold and made Nintendo billions to be ripe for a lawsuit. Lame.
okinawaboy11 Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 Wow. Very stupid, I can't imagine Nintendo not winning this.
Angry_Gumball Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 Their sueing for the B Trigger.. Oh my god..PUBLICITY STUNT. They're losing sales because a videogame has a similar remote to one for a PC? They have no relation! Really, they do totally different things, how are they losing sales? How about Nintendo shows them the Z Trigger button on the N64 controller... Pattented in 1996... Forget the Z trigger on the N64...how about the Nintendo Zapper for the NES? "trigger operated device in the nature of a pointing device for use with an electronic system..." Did we not do that with Duck Hunt?
Blazen_AZN Posted December 9, 2006 Posted December 9, 2006 ^ Or any other lightgun game for that matter.
Movieguy Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 I dunno...I have a bad feeling that Sony may try to get behind Inerlink, and push the hell out of this lawsuit, in order to eliminate the PS3's competition... But that could just be a paranoid fantasy.
CoasterExpert13 Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 Just goes to show you what people will do to get money & 15 minutes of fame.
robbalvey Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 ^ Sony would have no right to. They don't use technology like that at all. Besides, this happens on just about EVERY console that comes out.... Who remembers the lawsuit against Atari on the old 9-prog connectors for the 2600 Joystick? --Robb
metrock Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 The Wii is going nowhere. What ever happend to the rumble patent lawsuit against Microsoft and Sony? Exactly. Well, if you noticed, the PS3 is without the rumble feature. But back to Nintendo. They will win. I mean, they can afford to. Yeah, they might not be a giant like Sony or Microsoft, but they ARE turning a profit on every system sold. Ha-Ha. Crud, I am starting to sound like a fan boy. Eek!
verticalzero Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 I'm sure Nintendo would of checked for any simular devices on the market before creating the Wii-remote. It serves Sony right for their "Duel Shock rumble" pad as they shut down Lik-Sang.
Cameron Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 But back to Nintendo. They will win. I mean, they can afford to. Yeah, they might not be a giant like Sony or Microsoft Two thirds of all the gaming hardware sold in Japan is the Nintendo DS .. Sony and Microsoft wish they were that big! Cameron.
PilotKefka Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 ^ True, I have heard somewhere that for every PSP's sold, 5 Nintendo DS's are bought. Thats what I call awesome market share.
Blazen_AZN Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 The Wii is going nowhere. What ever happend to the rumble patent lawsuit against Microsoft and Sony? Exactly. Well, if you noticed, the PS3 is without the rumble feature. Microsoft has rumble, Besides, i belive the reason rumble isn't included with the six-axis is because of the tilt functionality. It would probably interfere or somthing.
metrock Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 But back to Nintendo. They will win. I mean, they can afford to. Yeah, they might not be a giant like Sony or Microsoft Two thirds of all the gaming hardware sold in Japan is the Nintendo DS .. Sony and Microsoft wish they were that big! Cameron. Well this is true. The DS (and nintendo in general) is HUGE in Japan. State side, Nintendo sold 55% of all gaming systems in the month of November. But where as Nintendo is just a gaming company, Sony and Microsoft can afford a short term loss on the video game side because they make so much money in other areas (TV's, operating systems, etc). The Wii is going nowhere. What ever happend to the rumble patent lawsuit against Microsoft and Sony? Exactly. Well, if you noticed, the PS3 is without the rumble feature. Microsoft has rumble, Besides, i belive the reason rumble isn't included with the six-axis is because of the tilt functionality. It would probably interfere or somthing. Microsoft has the rumble because they are paying the patent holder money to use it. Sony was stuborn, didn't want to pay; therefore, leaving the rumble feature out of the PS3. Now, I haven't read too much into the lawsuit.But this is basicly what I understand happened. Perhaps someone else can fill in a little better?
CedarPoint420 Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 ^Actually, Sony decided to include the rumble feature with the ps3, but it interfered with the SixAxis motion detection. So the decision was made to remove it.
Movieguy Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 The only other possible problem I can think of, is if this lawsuit is taken up by some big shot lawyer who wants to make a name for himself by busting Nintendo. Paranoid imagination at work again.
metrock Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 ^Actually, Sony decided to include the rumble feature with the ps3, but it interfered with the SixAxis motion detection. So the decision was made to remove it. From what I gathered, Sony was only saying that to cover up the real reason.
DerekRx Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 This lawsuit isn't going to go anywhere. They've got nothing on the Wiimote with their "patents". Just another way to either: a. get more publicity for their own product b. help the Wii make more money (like it needs that!) c. just be a bunch of buttnuggets in America d. all of the above
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