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Nintendo Victorious In Wii Balance Board Lawsuit
Nintendo has triumphed in court again, this time in a case involving the Wii Balance Board. The case was filed in May 2013 by Ithaca Ventures, which alleged that Nintendo had infringed a patent for a device called “Cybersurfer.”
Ithaca, a company based in Slovakia, sought damages, interest payments, additional enhanced damages, and attorneys’ fees. The company walks away with nothing though, as it has withdrawn its case.
In a Nintendo-issued press release, the company says that Ithaca lost a similar case in the German legal system. The result of that was an order for Ithaca to pay Nintendo’s attorneys’ fees.
Nintendo claims that Ithaca is a “non-practicing entity,” meaning that while it does hold patents, it isn’t putting them into practice. “Nintendo will vigorously defend its innovations against patent lawsuits, and will not pay to resolve meritless accusations, no matter whether the case is filed in the United States or elsewhere,” said Nintendo of America vice president and deputy general counsel Richard Medway.
A settlement agreement was reached in this case and has been dismissed. While the terms are not available, given Medway’s statement, it is possible that Ithaca will be paying Nintendo’s legal fees here in the United States, also.
[Source: United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle (1), (2)]
Our Take
The term “non-practicing entity” is a gentle way of saying “patent troll.” Nintendo certainly seems to draw a number of them, and is largely successful in fending them off (like this one, this one, this one, and this one).
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