Nintendo: "We Refuse to Succumb to Patent Trolls"

[saberjoy]

Wii Fit patent case dismissed
Rick Flamm, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of Legal & General Counsel, has spoken out against "patent trolls" after winning a third litigation case this year.

Californian firm IA Labs claimed that the Wii Balance Board and Wii Fit software infringed on U.S. Patent No. 7,121,982. IA Labs' patent covers:

A computer interactive isometric exercise system includes an effector, a sensor coupled at a selected location on the effector to measure a force applied by a user to the effector, where the applied force effects a strain on the effector, and control circuitry.​

Patent images show a rowing machine-like apparatus, quite different from Nintendo's now iconic Balance Board. A Maryland U.S. District Court judge dismissed the lawsuit without the need for a jury trial, to which Flamm said:

Nintendo has a passionate tradition of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others. We vigorously defend patent lawsuits when we firmly believe that we have not infringed another party’s patent. We refuse to succumb to patent trolls.​

Trolls everywhere.

Lol at Nintendo calling them trolls

 

[chartube12]

Nintendo brides the patent offices..I think so.

 

[BORTZ]

Well good for N. I think there are far too many frivolous law suits today anyways.

 

[Skelletonike]

Nintendo brides the patent offices..I think so.

Do you mean bribes?
And I doubt it, I mean, if you read that patent, it's completely different from the wii fit, that thing had a friggin char and was connected to a desktop... Nothing like the square wii fit where you stand on it, and you don't use a mouse like depicted on that pic.

 

[Hells Malice]

That patent has nothing to do with Wii Fit...
Jesus christ, people should go make their own ideas instead of trying to sue people to make money from theirs.

 

[Satangel]

That patent has nothing to do with Wii Fit...
Jesus christ, people should go make their own ideas instead of trying to sue people to make money from theirs.

Sueing people is much easier to make money, than trying to make your own ideas.

 

[Hells Malice]

That patent has nothing to do with Wii Fit...
Jesus christ, people should go make their own ideas instead of trying to sue people to make money from theirs.

Sueing people is much easier to make money, than trying to make your own ideas.

Which is why judges should be given rifles. Suing someone for a retarded reason? Judge pulls out the rifle and ends you. Problem solved and no more time and money wasted. A person trying to steal someone elses money wasn't contributing to society anyway.

 

[triassic911]

That patent has nothing to do with Wii Fit...
Jesus christ, people should go make their own ideas instead of trying to sue people to make money from theirs.

Sueing people is much easier to make money, than trying to make your own ideas.

Yeah, I mean just just look at Apple.

Do you guys think Nintendo is using the term 'troll' correctly?

 

[Veho]

Do you guys think Nintendo is using the term 'troll' correctly?

"Patent troll is a pejorative term used for a person or company who buys and enforces patents against one or more alleged infringers in a manner considered by the target or observers as unduly aggressive or opportunistic, often with no intention to further develop, manufacture or market the patented invention."

tl;dr: yes.

 

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

Do you guys think Nintendo is using the term 'troll' correctly?

"Patent troll is a pejorative term used for a person or company who buys and enforces patents against one or more alleged infringers in a manner considered by the target or observers as unduly aggressive or opportunistic, often with no intention to further develop, manufacture or market the patented invention."

tl;dr: yes.

Even so, I think that "patent squatters" would be a little more accurate. Eh. I still got their point regardless.

 

[Rydian]

"Squatter" indicates a lack of action.

 

[FluffyLunamoth]

"Squatter" indicates a lack of action.

Which is exactly what a "Patent Troll" is. They patent stuff and then never use it, and instead go after companies who allegedly infringe on their patents.

@OP - Nintendo called them "Trolls" because that's what the official name is.

 

[Foxi4]

In 1984, Soviet Academy of Sciences researcher Alexey Pajitnov alongside Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov developed Tetris out of a desire to create a two-player puzzle game,and the game spread commercially amongst computers. Mirrorsoft president Robert Stein approached Pajitnov with an offer to distribute Tetris worldwide, and secured the rights to license the title, which were in turn granted to Spectrum HoloByte. After seeing the game run on an Atari ST, programmer Ed Logg petitioned Atari Games to license it, and approached Stein. With the rights secured, Atari Games produced an arcade version of Tetris, and under their Tengen brand name began development to port the title to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in May 1989.

Tengen along with Spectrum HoloByte later licensed the rights to Henk Rogers on behalf of Nintendo to distribute Tetris in Japan, and Rogers traveled to Moscow to secure permission to distribute Tetris with the Game Boy. Around this same time, Nintendo approached Spectrum HoloByte on the prospects of developing a version of Tetris for the Game Boy, and a representative of Mirrorsoft, Kevin Maxwell, traveled to Russia to secure permission on their behalf. However, because Stein had secured the rights from Pajitnov directly and not from the Russian authorities, the USSR's Ministry of Software and Hardware Export stated that the console rights to Tetris had been licensed to nobody, and that Atari Games had only been licensed the rights to produce arcade games with the property. They sent a fax to Maxwell in England with 48 hours to respond; Maxwell however was still in Russia at the time and received the fax late, resulting in licensing being distributed to Nintendo. In April 1989, Tengen, who had previously filed an anti-trust suit against Nintendo, sued Nintendo again claiming rights to distribute Tetris on the NES, and Nintendo counter-sued citing infringement of trademark. In June 1989, a month after the release of Tengen's Tetris, a U.S. District Court Judge issued an injunction barring Tengen from further distributing the game, and further ordered all existing copies of the game be destroyed. As a result, 268,000 Tetris cartridges were recalled and destroyed.

Dear Nintendo,

F*** you, you're a patent troll yourself so you shouldn't even comment on the issue. As a fortunate owner of Tengen's Tetris for the NES I have a right to be a snob about this...

 

[Rydian]

"Squatter" indicates a lack of action.

Which is exactly what a "Patent Troll" is. They patent stuff and then never use it, and instead go after companies who allegedly infringe on their patents.

I meant lack of action versus action as in suing versus doing nothing.

 

[Gahars]

Well, hey, I'll give the patent trolls credit for creativity.

Speaking of, has anyone trademarked the term "patent troll" yet?

 

[Bladexdsl]

That patent has nothing to do with Wii Fit...
Jesus christ, people should go make their own ideas instead of trying to sue people to make money from theirs.

Sueing people is much easier to make money, than trying to make your own ideas.

or copy other peoples idea and claim them as your own

 

[ferofax]

"Squatter" indicates a lack of action.

Which is exactly what a "Patent Troll" is. They patent stuff and then never use it, and instead go after companies who allegedly infringe on their patents.

@OP - Nintendo called them "Trolls" because that's what the official name is.

nope. Patent Trolls aggressively "troll" infringers, whereas Patent Squatters just... sit there, refusing to give up whatever patents they hold, effectively stopping another company from developing that tech further because of infringement.

Of course, companies can always opt to just take infringe the tech involved and deal with the squatter if the issue comes up.

 

[MEGAMANTROTSKY]

"Squatter" indicates a lack of action.

Which is exactly what a "Patent Troll" is. They patent stuff and then never use it, and instead go after companies who allegedly infringe on their patents.

@OP - Nintendo called them "Trolls" because that's what the official name is.

nope. Patent Trolls aggressively "troll" infringers, whereas Patent Squatters just... sit there, refusing to give up whatever patents they hold, effectively stopping another company from developing that tech further because of infringement.

Of course, companies can always opt to just take infringe the tech involved and deal with the squatter if the issue comes up.

Well, okay. I'm still not convinced that the terms are all that different, since "squatters" seem to become "trolls" after their patents are infringed. "Patent squatter", in my opinion, describes the central problem better (and consequently the problem with the US patent system in general) than troll. To each his own, I suppose.

 

[DSGamer64]

That patent has nothing to do with Wii Fit...
Jesus christ, people should go make their own ideas instead of trying to sue people to make money from theirs.

Makes you wonder why Nintendo hasn't put Sony out of business with their patent infringements with the motion controller.

 

[Qtis]

Makes you wonder why Nintendo hasn't put Sony out of business with their patent infringements with the motion controller.

Because Nintendo doesn't own motion controlling. Hell the PS2 with an Eyetoy was able to do the same kind of motion controlling that the PS Move does now. That was ages ago. Also the tech used on the PS Move is completely different compared to the Wii controller. The patent system isn't really about patenting ideas, it's about patenting the tech. Nintendo may have been the first to make motion controlling mainstream, but Nintendo doesn't own motion controlling per se.