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Nintendo to Pay Anascape $21M in Game Controller Patent Ruling

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 15, 2008 - 9:41am.

Lufkin, Texas - Nintendo of America has been ordered to pay $21 million in patent infringement damages to Texas-based Anascape, which sued the company over the design of its Wii Classic, WaveBird and Gamecube controllers, the Associated Press reports.

Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta told AP the company will appeal the amount of the award, and added that the company was pleased that the court found no infringement related to the motion-sensing technology on the controllers.

Anascape had also filed a patent suit against Microsoft over game controllers, but Microsoft settled that litigation on May 1, according to The Lufkin Daily News.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/291g1 (AP)

Published in DMW Daily, May 15, 2008
tags: Games | Law | Lawsuits | Nintendo | Patents | Anascape |



Comments

Law

Submitted by Jim Moore (not verified) on May 16, 2008 - 1:22am.
American law and those good for nothing patents. It makes me sick.

ANASCAPE PATENT

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on June 29, 2008 - 7:04am.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=OLIVAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&d... that is the link to the anascape patent, the "3d controller with vibration" invented by brad a. armstrong for anascape, in carson city, NV. i have read throughout the patent and i fail to see how nintendo will win this lawsuit.

Well, Nintendo will win

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on July 4, 2008 - 9:14am.
Well, Nintendo will win because THEY ALREADY HAD THE TECHNOLOGY, IN USE, BEFORE ANASCAPE EVEN PROPOSED THE DAMN LAWSUIT! And Its not like Nintendo is a small company who no one's heard of. Anascape would've noticed earlier than 2006 that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony were all using "their" technology.

I think Nintendo would win.

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on July 22, 2008 - 4:30pm.
I think Nintendo would win. I remember they had all that in 2005 and stuff.

Um.. N64?

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on July 23, 2008 - 1:21pm.
This patent was filed in 2000, but Nintendo had done the Rumble Pak back in 1997ish. Integrating the existing controller + rumble pak was a trivial extension, and should clearly fail the "Novelty and Non-Obviousness" test - if anyone had bothered to apply it. Clear case of a bad patent, at least in my eyes.

Is Anascape serious?

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on July 24, 2008 - 4:48am.
This patent was issued in 2005. Nintendo released the gamecube in 2001. They probably started developing the controller a couple of years earlier. And they probably used the same techonloy from 2001 in the Wii Classic Controller. Anascape has nothing on Nintendo, unless they can whip out some patents before 2001.

Nintendo will eventually

Submitted by whistler accommodations (not verified) on August 25, 2008 - 10:56am.
Nintendo will eventually come back, I loved them in the 80s with my kids.

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