Nintendo loses controller patent lawsuit

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/22/2351247&from=rss

"The lawsuit concerns the analog sticks in the Classic Controller and GameCube controllers, which Texas-based Anascape Ltd. claims to hold a patent on that Nintendo violated. The court has ruled in favor of Anascape, and US District Judge Ron Clark has rejected Nintendo's request for a new trial. As a result, Clark said he will put a ban on the sale of the controllers (which includes sales of GameCube systems) starting tomorrow, July 23, unless Nintendo posts a bond or puts royalties into an escrow account."

It was Microsoft and Sony who lost one last time IIRC. I guess now they've all lost one.Tony-Harrison

In the end the controllers will still be on sale and Ninty will be out of pocket a few million. At the rate the DS and Wii print money though I don't see this being a problem for them.

Actually, it might hit their Duct Tape R&D department :P

I wonder if this is another vague patent or a legitimate one like Immersion.foxhound_fox

Its very vague. It is just another example of America's broken patent laws in action. Elsewhere in the world you have to produce a working product before your patent can be upheld where as in the states you can just patent a vague idea and then sue people 10 years down the line *sigh*.

I don't own a Wii, but were the classic conrollers really that important?che5ter666

LOL @ Nintendo. They think they could steal and get away with it. Look at Sony, they didn't got away with anything.

Oh, this is just the same company that sued Sony and Microsoft a few years back for the same reason.

I wonder what part of the analogue stick is patented. I mean, we've had them since the N64 era, and Nintendo aren't being sued for that...

Shame on you Nintendo, stealing other people ideas. I thought only Sony did that. But then MS also did that avatar(Mii) ripoff. Seriously, the 3 companies are shady.hamidious

Ohhh...this is a common practice with many big corporations. They steal ideas from the little guys and pass them off as their own. When the little guy observes this and takes a big company to court for a patent infringement, those big, powerful companies have their army of wealthy, powerful lawyers win them cases. Patent law is very complicated. Getting a patent on an idea requires lots of legal know-how and is very expensive to begin with, but to go to court over it? The legal fees are so high that the little guy cannot afford to fight it out, whereas the big companies can.

So a US District Judge settled the trial in favor of an American company over a Japanese one. Sounds a bit like the battle between Boeing and EADS. We mustn't forget that Belgian company wanting to buy that American brewery as well. Hexagon_777

They no longer want to buy Anheuser-Busch, because they now own it.

What is this Anascape company? Sound like they are greedy IMO.Wanderer5

Yes, clearly greedy, because there is no way a fair, generous, lovable, big company like Nintendo could be guilty of stealing ideas from others. That must be it. And even if they did steal them, who cares? All intellectual property should be fair game anyway!

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"]I wonder if this is another vague patent or a legitimate one like Immersion.Stonin

Its very vague. It is just another example of America's broken patent laws in action. Elsewhere in the world you have to produce a working product before your patent can be upheld where as in the states you can just patent a vague idea and then sue people 10 years down the line *sigh*.

Its very vague. It is just another example of America's broken patent laws in action. Elsewhere in the world you have to produce a working product before your patent can be upheld where as in the states you can just patent a vague idea and then sue people 10 years down the line *sigh*.

Stonin

There have been patent reform bills introduced in Congress to correct this problem (the most recent one, the Patent Reform Act), but special interests opposed them. I would like to mention that that bill will harmonize the U.S. patent system with those used arround the industrial world.

Vague patents FTL!

So a US District Judge settled the trial in favor of an American company over a Japanese one. Sounds a bit like the battle between Boeing and EADS. We mustn't forget that Belgian company wanting to buy that American brewery as well. Hexagon_777