Nintendo, which has certainly been in search of every bit of good news it can get lately learned last week that it has indeed won a lawsuit filed by Triton Technologies back in 2010 over some of the technology in the Wii Remote. This is actually the second time the suit has been dismissed, because the Triton patent filing was incomplete, and described more of an idea than an actual invention.
Patent law in the US is a mess, and unfortunately in my opinion adds way more confusion and cost to many things that are likely being invented in parallel based on other existing technologies. The Samsung and Apple patent lawsuits bouncing back and forth have been a good indicator of the extent of these problems. In this case however, the result seems just which is certainly good news for the House that Mario built, with their recent struggles.
Federal Appeals Court Confirms Nintendo Win Against Patent Troll in Case Involving Nintendo's Wii Console
Triton Tech Patent Held Invalid
REDMOND, Wash.-- 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."
