Update:
Nintendo of America has issued a statement confirmed the company's success in this patent case - Ajay Singh, Nintendo of America's Director of Litigation and Compliance, is quoted as follows.
We are very pleased with the court's finding that Nintendo does not infringe. Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products, and we aggressively defend patent lawsuits when our products do not infringe, even when we must do it over many years and through multiple trials.
Original Article:
Often when reporting yet another Nintendo victory in defending its products against patent claims, we've highlighted that it's only occasionally on the wrong side of a judge's decision. A notable case it lost was to Tomita Technologies in late 2013, in relation to the glasses-free technology of the 3DS. Nintendo was ordered to pay 1.82% of the wholesale price (the rate that retailers pay for stock) for each unit sold, in addition to $241,231 in "supplemental damages and prejudgment interest."
Nintendo naturally appealed and in late 2014 succeeded, effectively, to secure a retrial, with the appeals court ruling that "a judge incorrectly interpreted a key element" in the original ruling; as a result it all started again. It's now being reported by Nikkei that Nintendo has won the second time around, with the US district court ruling that there was no patent infringement to the case.
What this ultimately means is that the original ruling of royalties and money to be paid is now thrown out, and Nintendo has won the case. Whether Tomita Technologies has the recourse to appeal that ruling will be interesting to see - as it stands, however, Nintendo's legal team has secured a win that could save the company a lot of money. Nintendo has issued a simple comment to Japanese media to say it naturally agrees with the decision; if Nintendo of America issues a more detailed press release we'll update this article.
In any case we can take this one out of the patent loss column - Nintendo continues to win more of these cases than it loses.
Thanks to all that sent this in.
[source nikkei.com, via neogaf.com]
Comments 19
good for nintendo and im sick of these patent trolls get away with this stuff.......Some of them are just plain greedy douchebags looking for a quick way for a buck.
Well good news for Nintendo then and it seems to be a trend for them winning these kinds of lawsuits lately if i am correct.
Wow....They did it. Man Nintendo sure does now how to fight back do they?
I could only think of one thing while reading this article: OBJECTION!!! Honestly though, if Nintendo's legal team isn't comprised of a bunch of Phoenix Wright impersonators I think there's a big lost opportunity there.
If anybody asked how Nintendo makes some of their money tell them counter the companies that sue them
You'd think Nintendo would be able to countersue for defamation or whatever, but then again I'm not sure how the Japanese legal system works so I'm not sure if they actually can do that. It happens all of the time in the US.
The thing that hit me first when this all started is that the person who sued Nintendo was a retired Sony engineer.
Great news! I love stereoscopic 3D technology! 😃
They still lost that Philips case
@NinChocolate I could be wrong, but I thought that they settled with a patent sharing arrangement... Although I guess that would certainly feel like a loss - especially considering how vague the Philips patent design was...
The patent system is broken and rife with abuse, everybody knows it. There are even entire companies devoted to abusing the broken patent system for profit.
The main reason I want Nintendo to win this patent case though is because if they lose it, I find it hard to believe they will use 3D in their next handheld, if they ever make one., and the 3D is something I personally enjoyed on the 3DS, and especially the New 3DS where I don't have to keep my head still.
Am I the only one who thought that there was a new 'stability' update when I saw the thumbnail?
Where's the phoenix Wright picture to illustrate this article ! This NintendoLife, not Forbes !
Take that ex Sony employee!
Goes to show patent trolls you just can't mess with a legendary company like Nintendo.
Nice.
This case must have cost an absolute fortune.
It's like so many companies have tried to take Nintendo to court and lost. It's great to see Nintendo taking down these lawsuits left and right. Good old Nintendo! You show em'! Lol
I thought the original decision was horribly wrong, so I'm glad Nintendo appealed and won.
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