Nintendo has been locked in a long-running legal battle with BigBen Interactive — now known as Nacon — over an infringement relating to the patent of the Wii controller for a full 15 years. That's a long time!
Now, though, and as reported by The Games Fray (thanks, Games Industry.biz), the Japanese giant has finally had success, resulting in a "nearly EUR 7 million" payout ($8.2million).
The judgment in the case, which was reached in October and concerns BigBen's third-party Wiimotes, took a remarkably long time, especially given that the court originally found BigBen guilty of patent infringement back in 2011. The ruling does give Nacon the right to appeal, and that is something they are currently doing, having "delayed the proceedings several times, for example by rejecting the court-appointed expert", according to the press release put out by Nintendo's German legal team.
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The same press release highlights how the case is unusual due to Nintendo's damages calculations being made under a "lost profits theory":
"Particularly significant: the court assumed that Nintendo would have made 100% of the sales made by BigBen, without any deductions in view of third-party suppliers that were active in the market. BigBen had argued that buyers, had they not bought the BigBen products, would have opted for other third-party controllers that were available. However, the court found that these third-party products were also highly likely to infringe the patent-in-suit. Citing case law from the German Federal Court of Justice, it stated that hypothetical mitigating circumstances that would have amounted to third-party activities that also trigger damages could not be taken into account in favor of the infringer."
This case is also of particular note as it's been so long-running that the actual damages have increased by €3 million due to interest rates 5% higher than central bank rates. "These delaying tactics have now proved costly," say Nintendo's lawyers. Ouch.
Nacon is appealing, but right now this is looking like a significant legal win for Nintendo.
Got any thoughts on this latest court win for Nintendo? Make sure to let us know in the comments.