Nintendo has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Japanese mobile game company Colopl, currently asking for a rather staggering $40 million in damages.
According to an official statement from Colopl, Nintendo has claimed that five tech patent rights have been violated in the game Shiro Neko Project. One of these patents is said to involve operating a joystick over the touch panel, presumably referring to the Nintendo DS Wrist Strap which allowed players to use the touchscreen as a joystick thanks to its thumb pad.
Colopl has claimed that these assertions are unfair and, as of yet, we are still to hear of any news regarding the success or failure of Nintendo's case. In the meantime, make sure you don't decide to spontaneously create your very own 'Nintendo Swap' console (or something) unless you're ready to fork out an awful lot of money!
Cases such as these can often take quite some time to be finalised so we may be waiting for a while to hear any outcomes.
[source release.tdnet.info, via japanesenintendo.com]
Comments 73
I don't see how Nintendo can successfully sue over a virtual joystick. I don't know what the other patent violations are, I'll have to watch a video of the game for clues.
I would hate to wake up one morning and find out I was being sued by Nintendo. That would be depressing to say the least. T_T
Not one of the most useful patents. It was pretty bad when playing SM64 Ds
Nintendo have had so many against them they probably now how the system works like the back of their hands.
@Kwehst Dont make any fan games and you should be fine.
Reminds me: The DS Wrist Strap was perfect for Mario 64 DS! Playing it with the D-Pad was awful..
@SLIGEACH_EIRE If you don't know what the other patent violations are, as you say, then how can you tell that Nintendo cannot successfully sue over a virtual joystick?
Hmm. I also need to see some game footage to have better understanding.
@Cosats He was clear. Regarding the virtual joystick it makes no sense.
@Kwehst They won't if you sell your sole to them. I assume you signed that legally binding contract
@ThatNyteDaez Nonsense. Show me a fan made game developer that's been sued by Nintendo. Cease and desist, maybe. But sued? Don't think so.
@maceng Exactly. Don't bother responding to him, I don't. It's always a trollish comment from them. I watched some videos of the game, it's a virtual joystick that appears on the screen, you hold your finger down, then drag it in a direction to move the character and depending on how far you drag the finger, determines how fast they move. Nintendo own the rights to that? I don't see how, I'm sure I've seen numerous mobile games use this control method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtVUqCDax7I
@FragRed
I assume you meant to say 'soul',
unless Nintendo have an interest in the Solidae family of fish, or the undersides of peoples feet, which I was previously unaware of. Anyway;
Nintendo only ever defend their financial assets, like any good business should.
This hardly proves them to be the Draconian misers as they are so often depicted, usually by salty, uninformed, entitled brats in fansite comments sections.
If you refrain from scheming to profit from other people's copyright protected ideas, honour your contractual obligations and be generally professionally respectful, I'm sure you will no doubt be very successful in dealing with Nintendo.
Just another case of Nintendo following the rules. They have to defend each and every patent, otherwise it'll backfire massively when one day an important patent is called into question. If they don't defend half of them, it's easy to draw parallels for the opposition.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE Are you in a qualified position to deny that they are?
If Nintendo own the patent, then they own it. They should defend it if they do own it. Cut this victimisation rubbish, its cringe-worthy.
@Blizzia Exactly. We aren't in the playground any more, as some members in this forum still choose to behave.
Just like we see companies go after Nintendo, they are just as willing to open their own lawsuits.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE If teh lawsuit is referring to using a input device over the panel, that translates to actions on the screen, then all our fingers are infringing this patent!! Also, I've seen many mobile games using a virtual joystick and a couple DS games that also have something like it (there is a Doom-alike game taht uses it. I will chesk it out).
@HappyMaskedGuy @Blizzia But there's a million mobile games that control exactly like the game in question. Is Nintendo going to sue all of them? Apparently not. That's why this one stands out.
@Octane If Nintendo did not feel that this was a damaging infringement of their IPs, they would not pursue damages.
My local ice cream van is decorated with Scooby Doo characters. Should they worry about Warner Bros filing a lawsuit?
Probably not.
@Octane "That's why this one stands out."
Not every claim carries the same weight as others, we have no idea how much Nintendo was putting into that one specific claim. The bigger picture here is 5 claims by Nintendo, it just so happens colopl decided to focus on that claim specifically. If I had to guess I would assume it's because that is the weakest claim. Unless of course, Nintendolife cherry picked a claim from several that were detailed in the statement.
@HappyMaskedGuy It's like if Warner Bros. sued your local ice cream van, but didn't have a problem with all the other ice cream vans using the same characters.
@HappyMaskedGuy Who's playing the victim? All I've said is I don't see how Nintendo can claim ownership to this control method. I've seen it in many other games. Did Nintendo create it? And I can throw it right back at you, "are you in a qualified position to
denysay that they are?" We don't know what the other patent violations are. I've read that one of them has something to do with impinging on Mario Kart but I can't find any footage.@SLIGEACH_EIRE I'm not the one whining about it as if there's been some moral crime commited on the part of Nintendo.
You are assuming the role of victim for the persons being sued. It's ridiculous.
This is between the patent office and Nintendo.
My bet? The rumored Zelda mobile game is going to control in the exact same way, and they want to make it clear that they have the right to use this control scheme.
It sucks for the developer of this mobile game, in all honesty I have seen a gameplay video and don't see anything wrong with a virtual joystick.
@Octane Nintendo doesn't have to be right. They just have to act on it. And as @Nintendoforlife stated, claims don't necessarily carry the same weight.
@HappyMaskedGuy Would you ever relax please, who's whining? It's just an observation.
The joystick thing seems pretty stupid on it's own, but it might make more sense if we knew what the other patent violations are... it could just be that they're using several small details to prove that patents have been violated in general, rather than just suing over each point individually.
MMmhh. It definitely has nothing to do with the DS Wrist thingy. It's completely virtual.
There is a game dating back to the beginning of the iOS store that uses a virtual joystick: Knights Onrush (there could be many others predating this).
Tried to translate the document issued by Cotopi, but my Japanese is too rusty. And legal Japanese is probably out of my league, anyway.
@Octane So because they can't sue them all at once, they shouldn't sue any of them at all? That would be an effective way of commiting financial suicide in a marketplace flooded with counterfeit Chinese products that are almost impossible to stamp out.
In the current market, the smallest threats can scar a company. Nintendo need to be actively aggressive in legal matters to make pirates and frauds think twice before trying their luck.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE the reason you don’t respond to others posts calling you out on some of your ignorant spouting is because you don’t have a leg to stand on. All I ever see off you anyway is negative comments, man you had a field day slagging off the switch and saying it’s a failure without giving it a chance saying you won’t get one..but I bet your on the bandwagon now. Try being a bit more open minded it will serve you better.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE I didn't realise that pointing out stupidity meant I was ill at ease.
@HappyMaskedGuy This isn't about China. I don't even think Nintendo has legal ground in China. AFAIK copyright laws are as good as non-existent in China.
@Octane I'm confused- are you under the impression that China doesn't export said products? Would such counterfeit products not affect Nintendo in its distribution regions?
@Jackrov I think that you are onto something. Still, mobile is a different landscape and such "virtual joysticks" have been used for well over 6-7 years. But, to be honest, this exact virtual joystick formulation, where is you drag further, the character moves more quickly, I've seen it in probably 2-3 games only.
40 million US Dollar ?!
Mmmhmmm.....
Man.... how many Nintendo Switch can i buy from that Huge money ?
@HappyMaskedGuy Sorry to chime in, but these "goods" are virtual ones and, still, they are viewed a bit different. Don't know if you are talking about mobile devices that (could) carry games that infringe in such patent claims (which will be dumb by Nintendo to pursue) or games originating from China that makes use of these patents (have seen so many Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros clones to count in one hand).
@Octane I wouldn't say non-existant, but maybe a bit lax (?). Or they could protect the Chinese companies using such patents (South Korea protected Samsung from Apple in several patent claims, while the rest of the world awarded Apple with many victories).
I forgot about the thumb strap! I actually kinda loved that thing for Metroid Prime Hunters and Mario 64.
Maybe it's not so much the concept of a touch pad joystick, but rather that they're using a copy and paste of the original coding script used in the DS games. Many scripts are open source for use in games as long as they're properly credited, but that's not how Nintendo rolls.
Regardless of the actual cause, $40 million is still a bit much.
@maceng Anyway, I hope I am wrong and there is more to it than meets the eye. I wouldn't like Nintendo to turn into the bad guys here.
In general, a software gameplay mechanic shouldn't be patented. A virtual joystick is a strange bridge between physical device (can patent) and a software feature (in my opinion, should not be able to patent).
@Jackrov So, if you were to write specific code to achieve something only YOUR software at the time can do, you wouldn't try to sue someone who stole your code?
Get real, man. Coders don't work for free.
Edit: Having said that, I could only find one of their mobile games to use this scheme, which is Tanks vs. Zombies. It doesn't have that many downloads, so there has to be another substantial infringement or more going on here for them to request $40m from this company.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE Agreed about the virtual joystick part unless there is something I'm missing. For this one game to be singled out after almost ten years of games using them on touchscreen smartphones, that particular issue seems like a non-starter.
What are the other four violations? The document is in japanese and the source doesn't provide more info.
Definitely didn't realise you were supposed to use the thumb strap as a virtual analogue stick! Learn something every day...
@HappyMaskedGuy
"@SLIGEACH_EIRE I'm not the one whining about it as if there's been some moral crime commited on the part of Nintendo."
Huh? Where did this happen? Another article or forum?
Are you telling me Nintendo can't ever overreach with its lawsuits or make mistakes? I love Nintendo, but I'm not going to just ignore common sense because "they know best" and I'm not going to blindly support lawyers just because they work for the company I know better and like. While you might not think the opposite, that's how your statements are coming across to me in this comment section.
The way I'm seeing it, there are two sides to a lawsuit and you chose to take one side and attempted to suppress anyone who would choose to look at both sides.
If memory serves me correctly (and it rarely does) Nintendo finally lost some lawsuit regarding the Wii remote last year and had to pay $10m.
That was a good result considering that pretty much everyone had a lawsuit against the Wii remote technology from launch day, or rather when they figured out it would be very successful.
I think the biggest threat was to ban EU sales of the console.
These things happen all the time are are not always successful
@SLIGEACH_EIRE
Your past “crimes” against the Switch makes you a target. Even if you said the most factual or intelligent thing ever, there are those that will discredit it out of principle. I have noticed it before.
In my case there are many people that “bully” rather that argue a point and when I fail to respond they assumed I have conceded the argument, rather than the truth which is “life to too short to respond to these “a word I cannot use”.
It never ceases to amaze how seriously obsessed and emotional some get over a piece of silicon in plastic call a Nintendo Switch.
Yeah because this game obviously infringes so much they need to sue.
Unlike Super Dario Bros, Super Grandad Runner, and Super Plumber Game 64. (Invented examples, don't go searching for those exact names).
Nintendo should be suing Hyperkin over the gameboy remake thing.....or at least partner with them...
and i would like more details about the five tech patent rights that have been violated in the game Shiro Neko Project. and will someone please translate the Japanese into English?
So instead of suing... I dunno like that Splatoon mobile rip off NL posted about. or any of the Mario/pokemon rips on the googleplay store...
Nintendo do this.... "clap" "clap"
Nintendo, you make great games, but you're also very uptight and greedy at times.
Looks like this is Nintendo's revenge for that Wii lawsuit finalised against Nintendo a while back
One of those patents they just give out with little review - that is just a stylus stuck to your finger. That should be invalidated.
Nintendo on the aggressive-offensive for once...?
The amount of people defending Nintendo over a "patent infringement" as ludicrous as THE VIRTUAL JOYSTICK THAT'S BEEN USED SINCE THE IPHONE CAME OUT is effing pathetic. Bootlickers.
@Corleonis88 I know! I only really enjoyed SM64 DS when I was able to play it on my 3DS circle pad.
@rayword45 "One of these patents is said...", from an official statement from Colopl. In other words, we only have information from the defendant.
I don't know about you, but information solely from a defendant or plaintiff is generally quite biased. Just like how a bunch of people here are in no position to accuse other people of victimization you too are not in a position to call people shills.
@Corleonis88 Yeah I never liked using the thumb strap, it felt really sloppy.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE "All I've said is I don't see how Nintendo can claim ownership to this control method. I've seen it in many other games. Did Nintendo create it?"
I think you're looking at it the wrong way. How many games did you see use that control method before 2004 when the DS launched or when the patent was submitted to begin with? I can't even name one, considering they popularised touch screen gaming and the control method came with the system at launch and they were awarded the patent. What reason do you have to doubt that they created the control method?
There's probably a lot of games that did something similar to that control method after the DS launched. Seemingly this one that Nintendo believe seemingly infringed on it and 4 other patents.
Seems like virtual joysticks have been kind of an industry standard for years. I remember playing a port of Sonic on an old iphone in the shop almost ten years ago with one of those little virtual sticks. Even if they had it, it doesn't look like they've been protecting the property too much.
This place just ain't fun anymore.
@rayword45
To be fair, the iPhone released in 2007. The DS and Thumb Strap came out in 2004.
@maceng @Chandlero @RyanCraddock
The Wrist Strap is for the Wii.
The Thumb Strap is for the DS.
@k8sMum
I agree.
@10-zx Thanks for correcting me. But the article, wrongly it seems, talks about the DS Wrist Strap, from there my confusion.
Everyone knows that the DS predates the iPhone, and that the use of virtual joysticks on the iOS and Android devices, but it has been used for 10 years now, and Nintendo is now coming forward. Legally, is an small hill battle for Nintendo to demonstrate that Colopl infringes "more" than previous developers on such patent.
It would be funny if Nintendo sue and lose. Besides their lawsuit from the Wikipad makers isn't done yet.
@Chandlero I remember feeling in the minority when I said I preferred playing with the pad. But, when I play the game on the 64, it just feels right to play with the analog stick.
@maceng
Hence, why I corrected Ryan too.
@Kwehst lol makes flipping the switch take on a new, lethal meaning
@Blizzia I agree completely. If they don't defend what's theirs, people will walk all over them. There are already plenty of people who get away with ripping them off as it is.
@Kwehst Right. Just attorney fees alone would be a killer.
Watching Nintendo sue is like watching your parents fight when you're a small child.
They're suing over a freaking joystick? Really?
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