Company forcing Nintendo to pay $21 million on patent infringement

M

MegaDrive20XX

Segatron Genesis... call me the wizard.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQ6Wf79U2gOHfVtgofTAabguIu3QD90M00P00

On GameCube, Wavebird, and Wii Classic Controllers

LUFKIN, Texas (AP) — Nintendo of America Inc. was ordered to pay a small East Texas gaming company $21 million Wednesday for infringing on a patent while designing controllers for its popular Wii and GameCube systems.

A federal jury found in favor of Anascape Ltd. in the lawsuit that was originally filed in 2006. Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta said the company will seek an appeal and expects the court to reduce the award "significantly."

The jury found that Nintendo infringed on Anascape's patent while designing its Wii Classic, WaveBird and Gamecube controllers.

Scibettra said Nintendo was pleased no infringement was found with the motion-sensing technology used in its wandlike Wii and Nuncheck controllers, which mimic movements by users in games such as tennis and boxing.

Attorneys for Anascape did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tyler-based Anascape also sued Microsoft Corp. for patent infringements on game controllers but reached an agreement with the company before the start of the trial against Nintendo, The Lufkin Daily News reported.

Microsoft said in a statement that terms of the settlement reached May 1 were confidential.
Hosted by Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


Screw this, you guys give me the address, I'll drive down there with a bat and I'll do a nicer Job than Nintendo would.
 
What I don't understand is what patent did they infringe that this small unknown company had? It has to be osmething that all 3 controllers had in common, and I don't think it could be buttons or the sticks...
 
and why do they ask nintendo to pay when the wavebird came out many years ago?
 
"popular Gamecube system."
~ one could debate that.

And... I'd be very curious on what they infringed upon.

The lawsuit was filed 3 years after the Wavebird... 5 years after the original gamecube controller...

If that company was designing Nintendo's stuff... how is it infringement? That's like a second party company (if setup that way)...
That would be like the creator of the Xbox joystick sueing for whatever reason.

They need to release more information on this. Something doesn't seem right...

†B†V† :hat
 
Bluevoodu said:
"popular Gamecube system."
~ one could debate that.
Click to expand...
To be fair, the Gamecube only sold three million units less than the Xbox.
 
UPDATE:

http://kotaku.com/5027701/nintendo-facing-controller-ban-over-patent-lawsuit

Getting your hands on a Wavebird, Classic Controller, or Nintendo GameCube could shortly become very difficult as Nintendo faces a ban on all three devices, following a failed attempt to overturn the verdict in a $21-million dollar patent infringement suit brought on by Texas-based Anascape Ltd. U.S. District Judge Ron Clark plans on issuing the ban on these Nintendo products tomorrow, giving the company a chance to avoid the ban by posting bond or placing royalties in an Escrow account. According to Anascape lawyer Doug Cawley, the ban will be placed on hold while Nintendo appears on the Federal level.

"Nintendo was already planning to appeal this case to the Federal Circuit court,'' Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta said in an e-mailed statement. ``The recent ruling by the trial court does not impact that decision.''

Note that the ban does not affect the Wii remote or nunchuck controllers - just the standard controllers that include analog sticks.
 
again why the heck they are asking for money now???? and why ban all 3??? >_> well i guess i gotta get a classic controler ASAP
 
What why are people taking defense to Nintendo. They clearly infringed upon the patent thus they must face a steep penalty. Foolish Nintendo.
 
Starrynite said:
What why are people taking defense to Nintendo. They clearly infringed upon the patent thus they must face a steep penalty. Foolish Nintendo.
Click to expand...

because i really doubt nintendo is at fault here, even if they lost the lawsuit... i mean the GC controlers have been out for a long long why would these people want to sue nintendo years after they stopped being produced??? oh well it doesn't matter they might just make another classic controler =P
 
because i really doubt nintendo is at fault here, even if they lost the lawsuit... i mean the GC controlers have been out for a long long why would these people want to sue nintendo years after they stopped being produced??? oh well it doesn't matter they might just make another classic controler =P
Click to expand...

Because it takes years to investigage a patent infringement if your patent is that one was infringed...Regardless, a minor 21 million fee wont stop Nintendo and they dont even need to sell these controllers anymore.

The people intrerested in using a GC controller already have one, the ones who want Classic Controllers already have one. To pin the tail on the donkey, apart from forking over a bit of pretty pennies, Nintendo isnt really losing.

Also, I wonder if their legal team is hiring, Nintendo has been in so many of these types of cases, such a bad company.
 
Starrynite said:
Also, I wonder if their legal team is hiring, Nintendo has been in so many of these types of cases, such a bad company.
Click to expand...
Refer to my other post where I pointed out how many they lose.
 
Starrynite said:
That doesnt mean they arent bad
Click to expand...
Last I checked, if you win 95% of the lawsuits against you, you must not be infringing patents.
 
Or you are lying and cheating your way through lawsuits by assuming loopholes and attacking trivial points in a law briefing thus nintendo is bad
 
Starrynite said:
Or you are lying and cheating your way through lawsuits by assuming loopholes and attacking trivial points in a law briefing thus nintendo is bad
Click to expand...
Quoting Nova, burden of proof.
 
Starrynite said:
Or you are lying and cheating your way through lawsuits by assuming loopholes and attacking trivial points in a law briefing thus nintendo is bad
Click to expand...

Nintendo is the leading company in a multi-billion dollar industry that is one of the fastest growing industries in the world: being sued by other people who want a piece of the pie is something every major company has to deal with. Look at the trouble Sony got into with their Dualshock controllers, and Microsoft already settled their infringement on this patent; its not just Nintendo that's being targeted with legal action. You can't judge a company based on how many lawsuits are filed against them, as many lawsuits are dismissed readily as groundless. This is one of the few that actually has some merit, but without knowing the full details of the case its difficult to tell whether or not this situation came about by inappropriate corporate ethics, a misunderstanding, or a loophole that Nintendo's legal department had not accounted for.

They are appealing the suit. Let's maybe wait and see how that goes before we condemn Nintendo's business ethics.
 
Also, just to ask, why does this only affect Nintendo and not Microsoft and Sony?
 
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