Texas court sides with Nintendo on Wii Remote patent, overturns previous jury verdict and $10m fine

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Back in 2017, Nintendo lost a court battle, where iLife Technologies took them to court, claiming that they originally had the patent for motion-sensing technology, and that the controllers used for the Nintendo Wii and Wii U both infringed upon them. Their patent was used for motion-sensing in the medical industry. iLife sought $144 million in damages, and after a jury deliberation, they were awarded a smaller sum of $10 million. Nintendo immediately filed for an appeal in court, and now, after two years, a verdict has been handed down. The federal courts in Dallas, Texas, have ruled that the patent was too vague and "impermissibly trying to cover the broad concept of using motion sensors to detect motion". With this ruling, the $10 million dollar fine against Nintendo has been thrown out, invalidating iLife's claims to the patent.

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Axido

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Oh dear someone forgetting people at nintendo need to be paid and make profit so they can continue giving us great games

Oh dear, someone forgetting how the economy works.

Paying staff and making reasonable profit could be accomplished without such a premium on those products. Businesses nowadays seek maximum profit. You sell stuff for the price people are likely to pay, not the price that will cover your expenses. And in most businesses (and Nintendo specifically) there's a lot of space between what their current business reports suggest and them not being able to feed their staff. Nintendo would neither die from selling their stuff for less profit nor would they die from cheaper alternatives. It's just that enough people still believe in them only having good intentions (or in the quality of their products at least). Neoliberalism sadly has nothing to do with good intentions.
 
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DANTENDO

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Oh dear, someone forgetting how the economy works.

Paying staff and making reasonable profit could be accomplished without such a premium on those products. Businesses nowadays seek maximum profit. You sell stuff for the price people are likely to pay, not the price that will cover your expenses. And in most businesses (and Nintendo specifically) there's a lot of space between what their current business reports suggest and them not being able to feed their staff. Nintendo would neither die from selling their stuff for less profit nor would they die from cheaper alternatives. It's just that enough people still believe in them only having good intentions (or in the quality of their products at least). Neoliberalism sadly has nothing to do with good intentions.
How many hours did you put in swinging yr wiimote? I'm sure you got yr 30 bucks worth

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And as you seem to be some financial nintendo expert can you tel us what Miyamotos salary is:D
 

FAST6191

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Ha! Suck it, you stupid patent trolls :lol: good, hope they hurt for a long time x3
Was this a patent troll? Such things typically being defined as a company that seldom, if ever, invents anything and just seeks a quick settlement, usually from easy marks but big company and little payoff is also an option, for either bought in or worthless patents.

I have not looked at the patent (or if I have it has not been since the original verdict hit and I can't remember it) and can be bothered right now so can't say whether I find it vague or not (I find a lot of US patents in general something of a farce -- obviousness and prior art seems an alien concept there) but most such trolls don't take it all the way to appeals courts.
 

Lazyboss

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These courts cases become silly everyday, why don't Nintendo just make a new game called "court battle"? It will be interesting, and then the court will fire a case against them.

Ok I'm going to sleep.
 
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Spider_Man

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So basically nintendo can buy out another judge to over rule when they lose.

Nintendo should focus on gaming and console that trying to find ways to print money taking people to court.
 
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blaydes99

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Generally you get what you pay for with controllers. The cheap ones tend to have worse/sticky buttons, break faster, be less responsive, or just not feel as good to use. The Wii Remote isn't exactly my favorite controller either, but there's a reason the "little brother gets the knockoff madcatz controller" memes exist.

Yep, years ago I needed a few more wiimotes and bought two knockoff "motion plus" versions. They work, but the battery life is dismal. They seem to last only 20% as long as real wiimotes. Then, one of them broke completely. I learned my lesson and just bought the official wii motion plus add-on attachments (for cheap) and called it good. :)
 

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