Philips wants to ban Wii and Wii U in America

[ElYubiYubi]

It’s an interesting world we live in. In the middle of a generally boring day I came across this interesting bit of news that might actually be a biggie. Apparently, a court has ruled that Nintendo’s Wii U and Wii are currently infringing two different patents of the electronics company Philips.

http://segmentnext.com/2014/06/20/nintendo-wii-wii-u-might-get-banned-us-thanks-philips/

 

[osirisjem]

Nintendo has lost an important court case in the UK against Philips, over the motion and gesture tracking technology used in its Wii game console.
Philips claims that Nintendo nicked technology on three of its patents with its designs for the Wii and Wii U motion controllers. The patents describe a "method and apparatus for controlling the movement of a virtual body" and a "user interface system based on a pointing device".
[source]

/lame

 

[TyBlood13]

"A user interface based on a pointing device"

So are they going to go after Apple for making the computer mouse?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

"A user interface based on a pointing device"

So are they going to go after Apple* for making the computer mouse?

*Xerox

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I like this.

 

[GameWinner]

Is it time for Nintendo to pay up?

 

[Clydefrosch]

obviously nintendo will go to the next higher instance until the win in the end. eventually, there will be a court that doesnt support patent trolling

 

[rizzod]

I honestly hope Philips win. It'll teach Nintendo a fkn lesson.

 

[Ryo_kun]

Philip is a scum for doing that.

 

[Skelletonike]

I honestly hope Philips win. It'll teach Nintendo a fkn lesson.

I'm guessing you're the type that also thinks that Apple should win their trials like the rectangle one?

 

[the_randomizer]

I honestly hope Philips win. It'll teach Nintendo a fkn lesson.

Please tell me that's a joke, the description of the patent is quite vague and very ambiguous. Nintendo has some powerful lawyers that aren't to be screwed around with, patent trolling should be outlawed. Philips never even used said patents being described, in like, well anything they've made so far; their products are mediocre at best.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Please tell me that's a joke, the description of the patent is quite vague and very ambiguous. Nintendo has some powerful lawyers that aren't to be screwed around with, patent trolling should be outlawed. Philips never even used said patents being described, in like, well anything they've made so far; their products are mediocre at best.

What you have to understand is that Philips has good lawyers too, hence why they won this first lawsuit. Now a higher court has to accept Nintendo's appeal and not just accept the lower court's decision, which will take some work on Nintendo's part as well. As well, a vague patent can almost be better, as if it just touches on the core idea, it's easier to fight with than if your patent is really specific (down to the shape of the device that it would be implemented in, for example).

So it maybe be patent trolling, but there is the very real possibility that Philips will emerge victorious overall.

 

[rizzod]

I'm guessing you're the type that also thinks that Apple should win their trials like the rectangle one?

no.

 

[the_randomizer]

What you have to understand is that Philips has good lawyers too, hence why they won this first lawsuit. Now a higher court has to accept Nintendo's appeal and not just accept the lower court's decision, which will take some work on Nintendo's part as well. As well, a vague patent can almost be better, as if it just touches on the core idea, it's easier to fight with than if your patent is really specific (down to the shape of the device that it would be implemented in, for example).

So it maybe be patent trolling, but there is the very real possibility that Philips will emerge victorious overall.

That would really suck and I would hope that worst case scenario, Nintendo has a contingency plan, should Philips end up being victorious; either way, there's no denying that it's one helluva mess for both sides. I want Nintendo to succeed, at least, not have their console be a complete failure, you know, but this exacerbates the issue.

 

[Skelletonike]

no.

Well, from the way you wrote that, it seemed like you support all the patent trolls that exist out there.
Such vague patents shouldn't even be allowed to exist (heck, my country is pretty picky about patents and they need to be extremely detailed and proven working).

 

[stanleyopar2000]

if you think THIS is a joke. The company Commodore / Amiga (which brought to you the Amiga / C64 computer line and the CD32 game console).....

was taken down entirely due to one vague XOR (Exclusive Or) cursor patent by Cadtrack. One fucking patent ruined an entire reputable player in the electronics industry and forced hundreds of local Pennsylvanians to lose their jobs.

This crap is why the CD32 was never released officially in the USA. But had to be imported. Commadore wouldn't have been so bad off to declare bankruptcy if they didn't put all their assets into the CD32.

 

[mkdms14]

Ummmmm why???????? I don't understand how this could possibly happen doesn't Nintendo have lawyers who know how to read patents if they did indeed break the law. Also I know this is tech but how does this tech differ from kinect or PS move its all incredibly similar why doesn't philips go an sue Sony and Microsoft as well.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Ummmmm why???????? I don't understand how this could possibly happen doesn't Nintendo have lawyers who know how to read patents if they did indeed break the law. Also I know this is tech but how does this tech differ from kinect or PS move its all incredibly similar why doesn't philips go an sue Sony and Microsoft as well.

The reason they probably only went after Nin10doh was because Sony and Microsoft would just pay the patent royalties, whereas Nin10doh doesn't exactly have a good history regarding them (the whole 3DS thing). If Nin10doh did proper research and just paid some royalties, none of this would be happening.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

The reason they probably only went after Nin10doh was because Sony and Microsoft would just pay the patent royalties, whereas Nin10doh doesn't exactly have a good history regarding them (the whole 3DS thing). If Nin10doh did proper research and just paid some royalties, none of this would be happening.

lol after Sony stabbed Nintendo in the back with their "Play Station" SNES-CD agreement contract, where Sony would have exclusive rights for the addon and Nintendo would get barely nothing).

Nintendo pretty much had "Revenge sex" with Phillips behind Sony's back (which was revealed shortly after CES of that year) with a SNES CD deal and a Nintendo character contract. Which created the incested lovechild abominations known as the Zelda: faces of evil, wand of gamalon, Zelda's Adventure and Hotel Mario. The worst 4 games on the Phillips CD-i. Oddly enough both deals fell though and Sony went to make their Nintendo-less "PlayStation" and the CD addon never happened. Protip!: the SNES has a sound chip designed by Sony, which sparked Sony's interest in Nintendo in the first place. the irony.

Boring history lesson aside (i did a lot of research for my YT series). Nintendo has dealt with Phillips before but not in a negative way like this.

 

[EZ-Megaman]

Not sure if it was posted before., but there's also this, though that's kind of the opposite of how this turned out.

Nintendo sure seems popular these days, with patent cases, though..