Published: September 1, 2017 |
Source:
Engadget |
Author:
Mark Campbell
Nintendo ordered to pay $10 Million in Wii controller lawsuit
Nintendo ordered to pay $10 Million in Wii controller lawsuit
Back in 2013, a legal battle between Nintendo and iLife broke out over the company’s use of iLife’s patented technology in Nintendo’s Wii controller, with iLife asking for a colossal $144 million in damages at the time. This amount equated to around $4 for each Wii system that was sold at the time the lawsuit started.
This amount equated to around $4 for each Wii system that was sold at the time the lawsuit started, with the company also asking for an injunction against Nintendo’s continued use of the technology.
Now this case has been resolved, with Nintendo being told to give iLife $10 million in damages to the company. To put this number into context, Nintendo has now sold over 100 million Wii consoles, with their Wii U utilising the same controller design.
iLife’s patented technology was created to detect if elderly people fell or if infants had died due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and had no gaming applications mentioned in the patent. Nintendo has released the following statement that states that they will appeal the decision of the Texas court and that they believe that iLife’s patent is invalid.
On Aug. 31, 2017, a jury in Texas found that certain Wii and Wii U video game systems and software bundles infringed a patent belonging to iLife Technologies Inc. related to detecting if a person has fallen down.
The jury awarded iLife $10 million in damages. Nintendo disagrees with the decision, as Nintendo does not infringe iLife’s patent and the patent is invalid. Nintendo looks forward to raising those issues with the district court and with the court of appeals.
At this time it is unknown how long it will before the appeals process for this case is finished, with Nintendo stating that iLife’s patent is improperly written and is therefore invalid.
You can join the discussion on Nintendo’s legal battle with iLife on the OC3D Forums.
