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Nintendo Sues Mobile Developer Colopl Over Patent Infringement
The rarely litigious Nintendo have filed suit against Japanese mobile developer Colopl over a 2006 patent for using a touchscreen as a virtual joystick.
Colopol, which developed a game called White Cat Project, apparently ran afoul of Nintendo with their DS-era patent on freefloating touchsreen approximations of a joystick. The immediately obvious example of this control method from Nintendo is Super Mario 64 DS which used the touchscreen to replace the N64 original's analog stick with the DS wrist strap.
Nintendo originally filed these complaints against Colopl in 2016, but after Colopl denied the copyright infringement, Nintendo decided to file suit. Nintendo are seeking 39.3 million yen in damages, or roughly $350,000.
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