Ilife Technologies was infringed upon over Nintendo's wiimote accelerometer technology, awarded $10m

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Ilife, who apparently developed motion controls accelerometer technology, filed a lawsuit against Nintendo in 2013 under the state of Texas law for the use of that technology in their Wiimotes that is used for the Wii and Wii U home consoles. On August 31 2017 at 11 AM, a verdict was reached by the jury in favor of Ilife and expected and awarded $10 Million to Ilife. The company iLife Technologies uses its tech to monitor infants to help prevent sudden infant death syndrome and the elderly to watch out for falls, but argues it could be used for other applications and claim it was used in Nintendo's Wiimote controllers and Wii U Gamepad.

"On Aug. 31, 2017, a jury in Texas found that certain Wii and Wii U video game systems and software bundles infringed a patent belonging to iLife Technologies Inc. related to detecting if a person has fallen down," Nintendo said in a statement provided to Glixel. "The jury awarded iLife $10 million in damages. Nintendo disagrees with the decision, as Nintendo does not infringe iLife’s patent and the patent is invalid. Nintendo looks forward to raising those issues with the district court and with the court of appeals."

SOURCE

 

[ThisIsMyName1]

Unfortunate 0_0

 

[souler92]

lol get rekt, still i believe they go higher appeal and dont have to pay anything

 

[sansnumen]

This is why people should not be so dismissive about that other lawsuit involving the Wikipad. Only time will tell what will happen.

 

[ForeverEternal]

A lawsuit after the Wii reached its EOL. How is that even valid?

 

[WiiUBricker]

They appealed the case. Who knows how long it will go now.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

A lawsuit after the Wii reached its EOL. How is that even valid?

I assume profits made up until 2013 which is when the lawsuit was filed, will be considered.

 

[sansnumen]

A lawsuit after the Wii reached its EOL. How is that even valid?

There are two intersections of law here, patent law and regular statutory law. Patents are generally valid for 20 years from the filing date, and there is no statute of limitations on filing a patent infringement case. However, the recovery of damages can only extend about 6 years before the date the case was filed. E.g. Case filed January 1, 2010, can sue for damages extending all the way back to Jan 1, 2004.

 

[the_randomizer]

Patent trolls need to burn.

 

[KingVamp]

I really hope they beat this and Wikipad. Give them no reasons to increase this patent trolls nonsense. That goes for any company being effected by them.

 

[FAST6191]

Thought I should change the title from $10 to $10m; one is a token award, the other is significant.

I will have to look at the patents in question before I say too much more, however that it was filed in Texas (I assume Eastern District) probably says most of what I need to know.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Thought I should change the title from $10 to $10m; one is a token award, the other is significant.

If it was you who did the title change, thank you sir.

 

[Abu_Senpai]

This isn't good. It aint gonna benefit Nintendo, i can say that for sure.

 

[CallmeBerto]

Patent trolls need to burn.

Patents in general are awful and anti-free market.

Nintendo MAY have used their tech but Nintendo found a creative way to use it.

 

[hobbledehoy899]

Patent trolls need to burn.

Patents in general are awful and anti-free market.

How is this patent trolling? Or do you think that anybody who even files for patents are trolls? If so, Nintendo would be trolls too!

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Can someone try suing disney, they have way more money than nintendo you know.

 

[smileyhead]

Oh my God...

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

"Oh, this thing has an accelerometer in it, let's sue them, because our thing also has one."

Judge: ... ... ... G U I L T Y

 

[FAST6191]

Patents in general are awful and anti-free market.

I have many many misgivings with the US patent system (this Eastern district lark, patenting software, patenting DNA and prior art being almost non-existent there for a start) I still find the idea of patents to be a useful one and even in the US the system to be broadly effective. The option to restrict sale on things I might have spent years and lots of resources researching so I don't go broke when someone realises "analysis easy, design hard" and does not have to recoup my research and development investment on top of it all works for me.

 

[Bladexdsl]

man you americanas law system sux

 

[Kioku]

Here's the thing that bothers me. If Nintendo truly did use patented technology? They should not get away with it.