We’ve reported on many occasions about the various patent disputes brought forward about Nintendo’s hardware. Most of the time Nintendo wins these legal battles, and when they do, we all tend to learn about it. That’s probably a good thing—the fewer people who tie up their resources in the courtrooms, the more money and effort they have to spend making more games & hardware.
So, last January, Nintendo won a case brought against them by Triton Tech (Texas). This case centered around the MotionPlus technology, and though they’d won, the whole shebang had to make it through the appeals process before declaring case closed.
Nintendo has just issued a press release, stating that Triton’s appeal has been thrown out, which means this chapter is finally over. Here’s the contents of the press release, in which Nintendo refers to the win over the, *cough*, “patent troll”:
A federal appeals court on June 13 confirmed that a patent asserted against Nintendo by Triton Tech of Texas, LLC is invalid. In a lawsuit filed in 2010, Triton alleged that Nintendo’s Wii Remote controller infringed one of Triton’s patents: U.S. Patent No. 5,181,181. Judge Richard A. Jones of the Seattle district court previously dismissed the lawsuit after finding that the patent did not adequately describe a complete invention, and was therefore invalid. The June 13 federal appeals court ruling upheld that previous dismissal.
“We are very pleased with this result,” said Richard Medway, Nintendo of America’s deputy general counsel. “Nintendo has a long tradition of developing unique and innovative products, while respecting the intellectual property rights of others. Nintendo continues to aggressively defend itself against patent trolls. After many years of litigation, the decision today reflects an appropriate resolution of this case.”
You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you give the legal beat-down to trolls. All in a day’s work for NoA’s deputy general counsel, yes?
