The U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled in favor of Nintendo as part of a preliminary hearing, in a lawsuit filed by Dublin, Ohio-based company Motiva.
Last year, Motiva claimed that Nintendo's Wii system infringed on its patents, explaining that it holds a patent for a "human movement measurement system" that uses wireless hand-held or body-worn controllers to track a user's position in three-dimensional space.
However, a judge said that Nintendo has not infringed on any of Motiva's patents, calling in favor of Nintendo as part of a preliminary ruling, reports Reuters.
The decision will be reviewed again by the ITC and a final decision will be made in March. The Commission can still choose to change the initial decision.
Nintendo General Counsel Rick Flamm said of the decision, "Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others."
"Nintendo is confident that, if the full International Trade Commission reviews the decision, it will reach the same outcome."
I find the timing of this law suit very interesting. Or rather the duration of time that has elapsed since the debut of the Wii a few years ago. I mean the console shipped with those innovative controllers and now, three years-or so later this company is alleging a patent infringement?
It is entirely possible they were developing a device similar to the Wii controllers before or at the same time as Nintendo was developing theirs - technology is full of devices in the past that evolved in completely different parts of the world at roughly the same time. I believe the internal combustion engine and rockets are a couple examples. Multiple people "discovered" X-Rays at roughly the same time (late 1800s) in different parts of the world. And while Edison was promoting his DC electric current here in the USA, Nikola Tesla was developing his AC current tech in Europe.
If that is what happened then their device - intended to be the Next Big Thing - would have emerged into the world with no market to speak of, since the Wii's controllers can be used beyond the confines of the console itself. That doesn't give them the right to file a patent suit though, but does give them a huge motive.
It is entirely possible they were developing a device similar to the Wii controllers before or at the same time as Nintendo was developing theirs - technology is full of devices in the past that evolved in completely different parts of the world at roughly the same time. I believe the internal combustion engine and rockets are a couple examples. Multiple people "discovered" X-Rays at roughly the same time (late 1800s) in different parts of the world. And while Edison was promoting his DC electric current here in the USA, Nikola Tesla was developing his AC current tech in Europe.
If that is what happened then their device - intended to be the Next Big Thing - would have emerged into the world with no market to speak of, since the Wii's controllers can be used beyond the confines of the console itself. That doesn't give them the right to file a patent suit though, but does give them a huge motive.