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Nintendo Wins Wii Federal Patent Case
Nintendo won an important patent against the company UltimatePointer in a Seattle federal court.
UltimatePointer charged that Nintendo had violated two of its patents in the creation of its motion-control home game console Wii. Previously, the Nintendo had won a similar decision against UltimatePointer in Texas, but the case was later moved to federal court in Seattle.
Throughout the case, Nintendo had asserted that it had done nothing wrong, and was not in violation of UltimatePointer's patents. The courts agreed.
"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," said Richard Medway, Nintendo of America's vice president and deputy general counsel. "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."
Our Take
These type of "patent troll" cases are all too common. It's good to see Nintendo following through in the courts, instead of opting for an easy payoff to avoid litigation.
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