Nentendo getting sued over Wiimote, now

[Jhereg42]

What is with the sudden rash of lawsuits over controllers? Looks like another American firm believes Nintendo is in violation of their rights with the Wiimote.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/08/21/nintendo.wii.court.ap/index.html

The question that comes to mind for me is this: Are we seeing actual legitimate complaints or are we seeing people "squatting" on ideas and waiting for the chance to pounce and earn millions on something they developed but never marketted properly?

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

American patent law is out of control, too many people patenting "vague" concepts, and then waiting until someone actually develops something like it and then they sue the pants off of them.

 

[Kuroi Youkai]

I immediately call BS on their claim, simply because it took them this long, apparently, to realize they may have been getting ripped off. You'd have to be a new sort of shut-in to not hear about the Nintendo Wii at all until now.

 

[PxDn Ninja]

All I would ask is why it has taken them this long to decide to sue?

 

[Jumplion]

I thought we already knew about this? Or was this for their other controllers?

Anyway, Pedro and Kuroi said before me, this is BS. I wonder how they expect to win a case against Nintendo after waiting so long to sue them over their own "patents"

Then again, I'm no lawyer.

 

[Jhereg42]

I thought we already knew about this? Or was this for their other controllers?

Anyway, Pedro and Kuroi said before me, this is BS. I wonder how they expect to win a case against Nintendo after waiting so long to sue them over their own "patents"

Then again, I'm no lawyer.

Another company recently sued each of the big three about dual analog controllers and won. That dated back to the last generation, and they just now won the suit over the Gamecube controller. It seems all of these suites would be considered more than a little dated.

The kicker for Nintendo is that as a result of the last suite they were foced to stop selling the Gamecube controllers until it is resolved. If this gets pushed, then a stop on wiimotes would be very damaging.

 

[Quaidis]

As far as the article said, Nintendo hasn't actually been sued by these guys yet for the Wiimote. Considering what happened with the WaveBird as of late, I believe that this second round at Nintendo (Nintendo specifically this time) will get raised eyebrows by those under Nintendo and those under the US patent department.

The case will not go far. The Wiimote was made in Japan and the people complaining had no ties or connections with Nintendo before this complaint was filed. There is a loophole in patents that considers that two people could have very easily come up with similar ideas and never come into contact with one another.

Unlike the analogue remotes from all three companies - which probably did come from that one person's idea and the person didn't get the money they decided they deserved - the people attempting to file a suit for the Wiimote have no direct connection with the people who made it in Japan.

Then you would have to consider that this would be damaging to Nintendo as a whole, as the Nintendo has had no competition for the wiimote like it did the WaveBird/gamecube remote and that if the people who filed the patent won, Nintendo would be screwed. This fact alone will cause those who make the judge on if the lawsuit goes through deeply consider the consequences and motives.

 

[Jhereg42]

Here is the Escapist's version of the story. I thought it might be wise to link to it here.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/85828-Nintendo-Gets-Sued-Again

They seem to think it's much worse for Nintendo than previously thought.

 

[rustybadger]

I, personally, think that this is what is known as future patenting. Baring in mind the large amount of sci-fi around, when it gets to near-future tech; (motion-sensitive controllers) people just take a punt.

What with the expiry on patents being quite long, just draw up something that looks likely, update as relevant (development), and then claim when someone else invents it.

just my thoughts

 

[jacodemon]

Also, have you seen how labyrinthine some patent documents are? Check the wording on Nintendo's original US patent on the D-pad, or for even more of a giggle check the patent for the improved dome-switching technology that Texas Instruments patented in 1975. Nutzoid.

I expect to be sued immediately for this post which was clearly patented in 4,056,555 section 3 line 55 (a).