After fighting to keep its place in the console market after reporting big financial losses Japanese games-maker Nintendo took another blow in the last week, losing a U.K patent lawsuit to electronics company Philips.
The patents in question detail motion sensor and wireless remote technology as well as virtual user environments that Dutch-based Philips stakes claim over and which Nintendo has been accused of infringing both in its Wii and Wii U home consoles. Motion control devices such as the GamePad, Wii-mote, Wii-mote Plus, Nunchuk, Wii Sports Balance Board and several other peripherals were mentioned in court on Friday 23rd June.
All these named Nintendo devices were found to infringe on two out of three of the Philips claims, and the U.K court date last week follows similar lawsuits which have chased Nintendo across the globe from the U.S.A to France and Germany suggesting Nintendo’s use of its patents was ‘deliberate’.
British High Court Judge Colin Birss overseeing the case stated “The common general knowledge did not include a device combining a physical motion sensor with a camera and the reasons advanced by Nintendo for putting those two sensors together in one unit are unconvincing.”
Nintendo didsave some face on the accusations over copying user interface environments which was the only one out of the three patent cases dismissed and the company has addressed the situation in a statement:
“Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of other.” Adding that “Nintendo is committed to ensuring that this judgment does not affect continued sales of its highly acclaimed line of video game hardware, software and accessories and will actively pursue all such legitimate steps as are necessary to avoid any interruptions to its business.”
The exact fee Nintendo is forced to fork out in damages is yet to become public knowledge but we’re thinking they’ll be hoping to shift a lot of those recently announced amiibo toys to turn fortune back in its favour. But we really hope they don’t get in the line of fire from Skylanders creators..