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Nintendo Ordered to Pay US$10 Million in Patent Infringement Lawsuit
posted on by Karen Ressler
A jury in Dallas, Texas decided in favor of iLife Technologies in its patent infringement lawsuit against Nintendo of America on Thursday. The court ordered Nintendo of America to pay US$10 million in damages to iLife for infringing on iLife's motion-sensing patents to create Wii and Wii U controllers.
iLife filed the lawsuit in 2013, seeking US$144 million in damages, or US$4 for each of the $36 million Wii systems sold prior to the suit (Nintendo ended production on Wii consoles earlier that year). iLife uses to motion-sensing technology to monitor infants for sudden infant death syndrome and the elderly for falls. Nintendo's position was that iLife's patent was not properly written and therefore was invalid.
A Nintendo representative told Rolling Stone that Nintendo disagrees with the verdict, and is seeking to raise the issue with the district court and court of appeals.
Nintendo won a similar patent lawsuit filed by IA Labs in 2010 over the technology in Nintendo's Wii Fit, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Balance Board, Wii Remote, Wii Nunchuk, Wii MotionPlus, Wii Wheel, and Wii Zapper. Nintendo also won an appeal in the lawsuit filed by Ohio-based company Motiva over claims that the Wiimote infringed on the company's patent in 2013.
In a separate patent lawsuit, the U.S. Federal Court initially found in favor of inventor Seijiro Tomita on his patent for 3D technology used in the Nintendo 3DS system, but Nintendo later won the appeal.
Sources: Rolling Stone (Brian Crecente), PatentBlast via engadget, Hachima Kikō
