They always research....R....and D. The Tariff Act is mired in minutae (more so than your average congressional act, mind you), and easily overlooked. Likewise, Nintendo is in many ways a detestable company for various reasons, from distribution of increased revenues through increased salaries and benefits to the third-parties they contract to manufacture their hardware and software, Nintendo makes a lot of dubious choices as a corporation, and their corporate culture makes it rather difficult for journalists to gain the full measure of their operating procedures. The patent-holding companies that do so are entirely within their rights to withhold litigation for a certain period of time (and no, I don't know what that period of time is), and there's technically nothing unethical about doing so, especially when you consider the anemic state of Nintendo prior to the release of the Wii (anemic compared to Sony, for instance). A number of other factors may have compelled H.L. to withhold and eventually pursue litigation, including foreign exchange rate, market demand, prospective market demand in the near future, and the state of technological progression in terms of the use of wireless connectivity. H.L. are not only asserting their control over this patent with Nintendo, but with every future corporation that wants to utilize their specific wireless technology. The vast majority of technological innovation is spearheaded by smaller firms in the technologies sector that consist primarily of research and development departments, which eventually license the use of said technology to corporations (Sony, Nintendo, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Airbus...) While patent fraud does exist, it is rarely an applicable conclusion to come to. Patent fraud is rarely the legal decision on the part of the judge. While many of these cases are dismissed or are ruled in the defending firm's favor, roughly 30-40% are legitimate claims. "Most" is a bit of an exaggeration regardless of the position one chooses to take. One of the major factors in the increased amount of patent suits, especially in the technologies sector, is the increasingly global aspect of development, sales, hardware manufacturing, hardware development, patenting, etc. Globalized capitalism increases in scale and reach on a daily basis, while thousands upon thousands of patents are issued every year globally through over a dozen different governments. Sometimes a firm's legal claims are ethically dubious, but they are rarely illegal; only a court case or private settlement with prove anything, and biased conjecture doesn't accomplish anything.
Because every single civil liberties group in the U.S. ISN'T a bloated beauracratic mess of ineffectual idealistic micro-management.
Log in to comment