http://wii.ign.com/articles/750/750001p1.html
[quote]December 8, 2006 - In a surprising turn of events, Nintendo is already the target of litigious action concerning its newly released Wii console. California-based Interlink electronics has filed a complaint against Nintendo for what it has deemed to be a case of copyright infringement over the pointing functionalities of the Wiimote.
Gaming blog Kotaku has obtained a court filing, issued by the US District Court of Delaware, which accuses Nintendo of infringing on a patent filed previously by Interlink Electronics. The court filing claims that Interlink Electronics has suffered "loss of reasonable royalties, reduced sales and/or lost profits as a result of the infringing activities of" Nintendo.
The claim refers to a patent filed in February, 2005 which refers to a device titled "Trigger Operated Electronic Device." The patent describes the advice as a "trigger operated device in the nature of a pointing device for use with an electronic system such as a computer." The patent continues to describe a device which, on the surface, sounds an awful like the Wii's controller.
The complaint demands that Nintendo be enjoined and restrained from further infringing on the patent, presumably by taking the Wii off the market. Furthermore, the filing demands that the court order Nintendo to pay Interlink three times the assessed damages, including prejudgment interests and attorney fees. Additionally, the plaintiff is demanding a jury trial of any and all issues pertaining to the case.
I am now enraged.
Ten bucks says nothing comes out of it.
Probably.
Nintendo's got some of the best lawyers in the world. Some tiny company that isn't even in the same industry as Nintendo is no match for them. Besides, the patent is from Feb. '05, right? Nintendo might have had a seperate, more specific patent already in place before that time.
Yeah, I think Nintendo filed their patent, like, five years ago. It was only granted or "announced" last year-ish. So that right there should help.
Arent they sueing over....a trigger button? Lol what.
Trigger and pointer functions.
Funny thing is their pointer functions aren't based on motion, they're based on a touch-pad. They're sueing because Nintendo has a device that can both point and has a trigger. They'll have their ass handed to them.
Yeah this is nowhere near as close as the whole Sony lawsuit. I think it's just some company coming out of the woodwork. Notice they didn't file this till AFTER the Wii came out and started selling really well. We new about this controller for a while now. I bet you anything if Wii wasn't selling as well, we wouldn't see this suit.
Also, the damage claims are bogus. Like the Wiimote is detracting from the sales of that other device. :rolleyes:
The Wii was underway well before we even smelled 2005 coming. Interlink is just trying to grope the balls of destiny.. Haha. :cool: