The lights are on
Nintendo has been on the receiving end of a patent lawsuit from Tomita Technologies. The focus is the glasses-free 3D technology present in the Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL handhelds. Following a jury decision, a United States federal judge has now set the amount that Nintendo must pay Tomita for each unit sold.
The judgment amounts to 1.82 percent of the wholesale price of each unit sold throughout the handheld’s life. This is on top of a $15 million damage award that Nintendo has already been ordered to provide.
The presiding judge rejected a flat rate amount as it would have represented an “unearthed windfall” for Tomita. The percentage-based award means that the royalty will scale with the price of the 3DS and 3DS XL, both of which will no doubt drop in the future.
[Source: Law 360 via Joystiq, Engadget]
Our TakeThis is ruling is similar to the one we saw during the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 generation when Immersion sued both Microsoft and Sony over rumble in the controllers. Patent law is a powerful thing in the United States, even though we sometimes have a hard time weeding out the patent trolls from the truly wronged parties.
is the 15.1M is not enough? dang.
...welp
Also:
"The original amount based on the previous damages award by the jury was set to be 2.73 percent of the wholesale cost or $4.64 per unit, while Nintendo requested a 1.36 percent rate at $2.31, with the judge ultimately deciding that the 1.82 percent rate was the best compromise for both sides, owing to the rapid decrease in costs for the technology over time and a flat dollar amount again being deemed inapproriate due to constant price fluctuations in the marketplace outside of expected cost reductions."
www.crunchyroll.com/.../nintendo-loses-patent-infringement-case-will-pay-royalties-for-3ds-display-tech
I trucking hate patent trolls.
That's poop.
Man, Nintendo must not be happy right now, lol.
Damn just when you think Nintendo had enough on their plate already
Well, I doubt this will affect Nintendo at all. I'm glad Tomita is receiving its profits.
Ouch! But I guess if someone else came up with it first and a big company like N couldn't find it before they released the #DS; shame on them.
I wonder how much of a pay off the judge got from Tomita Tech. Doesn't seem like this guys done much of anything with his 60+ patients of inventions. Sounds like an ex employee of a tech corporation just scratched together stuff he had insider information on possibly coming to fruition and just waited to get paid. Sure this isn't the last we heard of this guy and his 'corp'
Damn! That hella sucks.
Anyone know what the wholesale price is for the 3DS?