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We think it's fair to say that a decent percentage of patent claims filed in the US could best be described as being in 'bad faith'. Though Nintendo has lost a small number of notable cases, being forced into payments or shared royalties, it wins the majority of patent cases launched against its technology.

Many claims have targeted the DS and Wii generation, in particular, with companies no doubt eyeing the substantial sales and profits as a way to pay the bills. As a sizeable corporation with a pricey legal team, however, Nintendo of America often sees off most challenges in the US courts.

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It's now confirmed another success, in this case relating to the Wii. In late 2014 Nintendo secured a patent win over UltimatePointer LLC, though inevitably the case then went through the appeal process. It's now confirmed that Nintendo has prevailed at appeal, too, comfortably settling the matter; the press release is below.

On March 1, 2016, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals found that Nintendo's Wii console does not infringe patents asserted by UltimatePointer, LLC. This decision confirms Nintendo's win in a Seattle Federal court, where UltimatePointer claimed that the Wii infringed patent numbers 8,049,729 and 7,746,321.

The Appeals Court also confirmed the Seattle Court's ruling that UltimatePointer was required to pay some of Nintendo's attorney fees. UltimatePointer was found to have engaged in "bad faith, vexatious, [and] wanton" conduct when deciding to accuse products it had not investigated and that, in some cases, did not exist.

"We are very happy with this result," said Ajay Singh, Director of Litigation and Compliance at Nintendo of America. "This case again demonstrates that Nintendo will vigorously defend itself and its innovations against patent lawsuits. It also demonstrates that, when justified, Nintendo will pursue all available options to recover attorney fees for improper litigation conduct. Nintendo continues to support reform efforts to reduce the unnecessary and inefficient burden patent cases like this one place on technology companies in the United States."

A pretty emphatic outcome, all told.