Nintendo wins Wii controller patent dispute
A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit brought against Nintendo over patents related to the Wii and GameCube game controllers.
Fenner Investments, a Richardson, Texas-based investment firm, alleged that the game controllers infringed on its patent, U.S. No. 6,297,751. The case was due to begin a trial on Tuesday.
Nintendo said it is pleased with the decision. But the company has been the regular target of patent holders who are trying to collect royalties.
Among those who have sued are Interlink Electronics and Anascape. In the Anascape case, a Texas jury ruled against Nintendo and ordered the company to pay $21 million. With so much inventing going on around next-generation controllers, creating a new game system is becoming a legally risky affair.
Fenner itself has also sued Microsoft and Sony. Fenner has been accused of being a “patent troll” — a law firm that buys patents on the cheap and then tries to extract royalties from lots of companies. It has sued firms such as Alcatel, Cisco and Nokia over patent disputes as well.
Next Story: Gazillion to launch series of major online games with Marvel Comics characters
Previous Story: GamesBeat 09 survey: mapping the game industry’s future
About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.