3DS models.jpg

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]