Topic: Nintendo sued for patent infringement on the Wiimote

[Jin-X]

Read all about it:

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[Bill Aurion]

Ahahaha, this will not end well for little Interlink...They have absolutely no case...

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

AHAAHHAHHAHHAHAH GET YOUR WII WHILE YOU STILL CAN

THIS GENERATION'S ENDING PRETTY EARLY FOR NINTENDO


How can Interlink NOT lose?  They've made a thingo with a trigger and it points at things on computars!  That's exactly what the Wii Remote does!

[Caliban]

I read it on engadget.com prior to IGN posting such "news", it doesn't look that similar to the wiimote, and I never heard of lawsuits because of TV remote-controllers being so similar to one another, pathetic.

[NWR_pap64]

I doubt it will go far. I mean, the Wii is doing great, and Nintendo is investing a lot of money on the console, games and developers. They wouldn't be stupid to say "OK, the console will be retired". I will be really surprised if Nintendo gives in, but with the power they have behind them it will not happen.

Nintendo DID mention way before the Revolution was still a secret that the new technology wasn't all that new, but that it would be the first time someone has implemented it on a new console. Plus, I remember some computer mouses that also had point and click features. And motion sensing had already been implemented on some arcade games.

Looks like the Regginator may be working extra hours in the week...

EDIT: The more I think about it, the more I believe that this lawsuit is a joke...

I mean, the Wiimote goes BEYOND pointing and clicking. It had many features that puts it above the original pointing device.

Nintendo should show off the blue prints of the wiimote as well as show off the controls in court. That should end the case right there.

That and have Reggie defend the Wii...

[D_MaN87]

That is the dumbest thing I have ever read.  Interlink's product has NOTHING to do with video gaming.  Its just a simple stupid button.  How in the hell can Nintendo be feeding off Interlinks bottom line with the wiimote?  Wouldn't that be the only logical reason to sue?

[Jin-X]

Don't pay attention to that stop making Wiis part, thats part of all patent lawsuits, Nintendo would just have to pay them lots of money and prob royalties as a worst case scenario. I believe that is why Sony took out rumble on the PS3, they would have to pay Immersion royalties for it. Nintendo could just settle with them, depending on how good of a case Interlink has, something we don't know for sure right now.

[The Omen]

The lawsuit is pretty much for publicity as far as I can tell.  They must know they have no case...it's absurd really.

[TrueNerd]

Oh noes! Nintendo = Sony! Interlink = Immersion! Could this be the end?  

[Strell]

As someone said at CAG:

"By now, ten times as many people have heard of Interlink before today.  Cheap publicity accomplished."

[Crimm]

Quote
Originally posted by: Strell
As someone said at CAG:

"By now, ten times as many people have heard of Interlink before today.  Cheap publicity accomplished."

If it goes to court I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo counter-sued for legal fees.  If the judge feels that it was a baseless case they may get said money.

[BlkPaladin]

Yeah I read the abstract of the patent unless there is anything more dambing in the patent itself this company has no case. Its basically a pointer type mouse, and its has i/r but it's mounted in the unit itself and the connection is just like a TV's so they would have to get a seriously biased judge and jury on this one. The Wii's remote is set up the opisite way were the I/R is coming from the bar and that is all the bar does, it connects to Wii via a Blue Tooth/Wireless node. So I think this is a company that is down and out and consider that this is the only way they are ever going to get money. Also they are either Sony or Microsoft fanboys because what they are asking will effectivly pull the Wii off the shelves perminatly. At least the with Imersion Technology they were allow Sony to pay royalties and come up with a technology that will work with their current controller. Also talking about Immersion remember that Nintendo didn't get caught up in this because their technology differed just enough. This is what this will turn out to be.

[Amodaus1]

Anyone rememeber how the light gun for the nes was built/ patented? That was some old pointer type technology and it belonged to nintendo. I have no engineering experience so i don't know if it counts for anything in a case such as this, but could it be possible that nintendo built upon that technology for the wii-mote?

Regardless, i doubt nintendo will settle, i think they will go to court. Donkey Kong vs King Kong rematch, except this time its not hollywood nintendo is against so they will most likely have an easier time.

[Crimm]

Light guns use the refresh rate of the TV to calculate where the shot was.

Every time the gun was "fired' the screen would all go black at once, and then it would go white starting from the top left corner and going across then down.

Essentially there is a receptor in the gun and the gun measures the time between when you pulled the trigger to when the pixels it was focused on lit up.  It sends that data to the NES console and then the console determines where on the screen you shot based on that data.  If a target is there it is shot.

[BranDonk Kong]

Nintendo has a patent (several actually) on the Wiimote. I don't think you can infringe on somebody else's technology if you're using something that the government told you that you can make, and said that no one else can. Ridiculous.

[Madcat221]

Patent trolls, nothing more.  Unfortunately, after Sony got burned by patent trolls, they have to be taken seriously.

[Ceric]

That's a joke.  I'm sure Nintendo has patents on the Wiimote.  That was one of the reasons it took a while to be shown.  I'm sure the patent office is competent enough to not allow non-unique patents.  Also the functionality of the Wiimote has been known and demonstrated for a while know.  Giving them ample time to file grievances and what not.  I'm also sure with as much warnings ans like that Nintendo gives that there legal department would not allow them to do anything so costing.

[Madcat221]

This is the same patent office that awards Amazon.com with patents on glaringly obvious things, mind you.  The US patent system is in dire need of a reform, and one of the reasons it does is to prohibit patent trolls like this from acting.  They had PLENTY of time to raise a fuss about it; why did they wait until after the Wii was released?  Because they're patent trolls and were waiting for maximum payout.  The situation with patent trolling is so bad that a company was created with the sole purpose of patent litigation: it's name is SCO, and its victim is Linux.

[vudu]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
I'm sure the patent office is competent enough to not allow non-unique patents.

Not exactly.  There are at least three companies claiming to have the patent for plastic snap-off cards (like the kind commonly used for phone/gift cards).  They've been suing each other and everyone else for years.  If you license the technology from one of the companies and pay them a royalty fee there's no guarantee you won't be sued by one of the other two companies.  It's ridiculous.  

[Ceric]

But those perforated cards are everywhere... Though that does explain why WiiPoints come packaged like they do.

[NeoThunder]

this case is bogus right off the bat, because they only simularity to the wiimote is the fact it's like a remote control.  Last I knew the patent on a remote control ran out, and i'm sure a "pointing device" is out of date on it's patent too.

[BlkPaladin]

That still doesn't stop idiots from sueing. Remember the bogus law suit Paramount (I think) tried on Nintendo with Donkey Kong. They claimed they controlled the IP rights to King Kong and Donkey Kong violated those rights. The judged ruled that the IP for King Kong was public property because the patent were over 70 years old. (It takes 70 years for a patent to move into the public domain until then people can repatant when the last one runs out. Its a really flawed system.)

[zakkiel]

Universal. Nintendo walked away with $2 million from Universal. Their lawyer in that case was a man named John Kirby. I wonder if he likes his video game incarnation...

[Dirk Temporo]

This is hilarious.

Quote
The court filing claims that Interlink Electronics has suffered "loss of reasonable royalties, reduced sales and/or lost profits as a result of the infringing activities of" Nintendo.

Interlink must be mighty full of themselves to think anybody cares about their little remote. Also, are we supposed to think that Nintendo didn't have the appropriate patents filed at the beginning of 2005, when they revealed the damn thing that fall?

[Invincible Donkey Kong]

I'm on my way over to Interlink after afternoon tea tomorrow.