White Cat Project
Colopl's White Cat Project

In a new statement (Japanese), Nintendo has confirmed that its patent infringement lawsuit filed against Colopl and its 'White Cat Project' mobile game has now been settled, with Colopl agreeing to pay an undisclosed figure.

If you need a quick catch up, the case can be traced back to as early as September 2016. A couple of months after White Cat Project's launch, Nintendo noted that the game had – in the company's opinion – infringed on several of its technology patents, and after having no luck via informal communication, eventually filed a lawsuit which asked for $40 million in damages.

At the time, Colopl revealed that Nintendo had claimed that five tech patent rights had been violated in the game, including one which was suspected to involve the Nintendo DS Wrist Strap's joystick-on-touch-panel technology. Bizarrely, despite the ongoing case, a game from the series was revealed to be destined for a release on Switch.

There's been a bit of back and forth ever since, mostly as a result of Nintendo asking for more compensation due to case's ever-extending timeframe, but things have now come to a close. While Nintendo's statement notes that finer details of the settlement can't be shared "due to confidentiality obligations," newsdirectory3 reports that it involves a 3.3 billion yen payout (approx. $30.2m USD).

[source nintendo.co.jp]