Philips wants to ban Wii and Wii U in America

[ResleyZ]

According to a recent filled suit, Philips wants to ban both the Wii and Wii U in America. They also want to ban the ability to import and export these devices.

This is because there would be two patents that Nintendo has potentially infringed upon deliberately. According to Philips, Nintendo is aware of the patent, but has not been willing to take a license, and thus keep violating it.

The first patent that is infringed, is about a way to follow a person's body, and use this as a way to input the actions in a 'virtual reality'.

The second patent is regarding a mobile device, which has the possibilty to 'point', and is connected to a camera and allows this device to control another device based on movements. This would mean that the Wii and Wii U controllers infringe this patent.

Philips is ultimately looking for a ban of both the Wii and Wii U in America and money back for the damages. How much Philips is asking is currently unknown.

This would mean the Wii U, which already isn't doing very well, might get banned in America, thus making it impossible to have this device really succeed.

What suprises me even more, is that while Philips is a Dutch companion, they only want the ban in America, and not in other countries. It is unknown if this will be changed or not.

Source: Nu.nl (Dutch news site) and the filled suit itself.

 

[Bladexdsl]

here we go again......

 

[Taleweaver]

Lol...and I JUST bought me a new wake up light from those guys.

On a more serious note: international users probably won't know it, but nu.nl isn't a proper news site. While they're not exactly bringing rumours as facts, it takes some fine reading to separate what is actually going on from the often sensational headlines. So I wouldn't worry about it. Most likely, the guys from philips reading it probably scratch their head and wonder how what they said somehow got understood as them wanting to ban the wii and wiiu in America (yeah...nintendo is in the knowing since 2011...so philips is only 5 years late in letting them know that their wii uses a patent of theirs???).

 

[Jayro]

Oh fuck off Philips, you had your chance with the CDi, and you blew it. Go cry in someone else's milk.

 

[Qtis]

Surprised to see the reaction here. Nintendo is known for going lengths to avoid paying licensing fees. That's the reason why we're stuck without BluRay support and whatnot on Nintendo consoles.

Probably going to be a trial and payments of some kind to Phillips if the claim is valid. I highly doubt the import and sales of the console would be banned, especially with the veto option of the us president.

 

[Veho]

What suprises me even more, is that while Philips is a Dutch companion, they only want the ban in America, and not in other countries. It is unknown if this will be changed or not.

Maybe the patent is too vague and undefined and they only have the patent in the US because the US patent office allows the patenting of vague ideas. European patent offices have way stricter criteria so it's entirely possible Philips only has a patent in the US and can only demand a ban there.


EDIT: "Philips bans Wii U in North America; no impact on sales"

 

[Bladexdsl]

sony or maybe m$ put Philips up to this

 

[p1ngpong]

Good on Philips I say, if Nintendo actually had some creativity in their divisions maybe they wouldn't need to steal other innocent companies ideas all the time. Philips should team up with Activision who had their ideas ripped off by Nintendo too and bury this scum forever!

 

[reprep]

claims are very generic. "a way to follow a person's body, and use this as a way to input the actions in a 'virtual reality"

all 3 major consoles and a lot of electronic equipment infringe this patent if philips' claims are right.

nothing will come out of court.

 

[chavosaur]

claims are very generic. "a way to follow a person's body, and use this as a way to input the actions in a 'virtual reality"

all 3 major consoles and a lot of electronic equipment infringe this patent if philips' claims are right.

nothing will come out of court.

That's what I was thinking too, most Notably with the Xbox One's Kinect. It seems really weird to be going after the Wii U when the Kinect seems to follow that line better, unless Microsoft developed it in a way that doesn't follow the line of reasoning Phillips has or something.

 

[Tomy Sakazaki]

That's what I was thinking too, most Notably with the Xbox One's Kinect. It seems really weird to be going after the Wii U when the Kinect seems to follow that line better, unless Microsoft developed it in a way that doesn't follow the line of reasoning Phillips has or something.

I though something along these lines

The first patent that is infringed, is about a way to follow a person's body, and use this as a way to input the actions in a 'virtual reality'

This is the idea of Kinect and PS4 improved move system (I think that the Move on PS3 doesn't actually track the person holding the Move controller, it tracks only the light on the move controller). The Wii/Wii U doesn't follow a person's body and use it to input data onto a virtual reality.

The second patent is regarding a mobile device, which has the possibilty to 'point', and is connected to a camera and allows this device to control another device based on movements. This would mean that the Wii and Wii U controllers infringe this patent.

This is the idea of PS Move system (both on PS3 and PS4) and on some Kinect acessories from the X360.
The Wii and Wii U actually doesn't have a camera system to control devices based on movements.

I think that the "news" is actually a satirical take on patent infringement lawsuits that companies have lost to Nintendo (where in those case the vague patents actually did had their similarities with the Wii/WiiU/DS/3DS gimmicks, but still, way too vague).

 

[ResleyZ]

claims are very generic. "a way to follow a person's body, and use this as a way to input the actions in a 'virtual reality".
All 3 major consoles and a lot of electronic equipment infringe this patent if philips' claims are right.
Nothing will come out of court.

That's how I interpreted it, not saying this was the actual claim.

The patents that are being infringed are pretty well documented, but still very generic. This is the patent regarding the control of a device using your body, and this is the patent for controlling a device using a 'pointer'. These are actually pretty interesting to read if you want to know how they documented it.

I think that the "news" is actually a satirical take on patent infringement lawsuits that companies have lost to Nintendo (where in those case the vague patents actually did had their similarities with the Wii/WiiU/DS/3DS gimmicks, but still, way too vague).

Except it isn't.

It also isn't a promotion stunt so people will think something like this: "Oh noez. Wii U gon b bannd. Better get 1 lel. #Fckthesystem"

 

[PolloDiablo]

Philips sure has lazy lawyers.... ban the Wii? why not do it like 6 years ago? when it was still relevant

 

[Gahars]

On the bright side, this really wouldn't change the Wii U's sales either way.

I highly doubt the import and sales of the console would be banned, especially with the veto option of the us president.

The veto power is for acts of Congress, not court rulings. I don't think the President would have any say in this... or any reason to care, for that matter.

 

[Bladexdsl]

this is their plan get rid of nintendo so they can release the cd-i 2. as long as nintendo are around they won't succeed

 

[TheCasketMan]

sony or maybe m$ put Philips up to this

Really? The Wii U is not even a threat.

 

[Sheimi]

Ban the wii? You tried with the CDi and you didn't get far. Go cry somewhere else Phillips.

Typing on mobile is a pain. Waiting five years to file a lawsuit and don't file it right away. If a "camera", then Sony and Microsoft has violated that patent. I don't know how would a "Camera" be defined in court.

Ban the Wii/WiiU in North America and ban imports. It won't happen at all. Wasn't there a similar case?

 

[loco365]

Philips sure has lazy lawyers.... ban the Wii? why not do it like 6 years ago? when it was still relevant

Pretty much this. They're so late even the cows came home first.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

EDIT: "Philips bans Wii U in North America; no impact on sales"

This. ;O;O;O;

That's what I was thinking too, most Notably with the Xbox One's Kinect. It seems really weird to be going after the Wii U when the Kinect seems to follow that line better, unless Microsoft developed it in a way that doesn't follow the line of reasoning Phillips has or something.

The reason they're going after Nin10doh only is probably because both Sony and Microsoft would just pay the licensing fees. This is happening because Nin10doh didn't, it's entirely their fault. I mean, they're a big company, they should know better. Granted, I think a majority of these patent-center lawsuits are dumb as fuck anyways and this sounds like a waste of time and money.


To me it sounds like Philips is kicking poor Nin10doh while they're down ;O;

 

[Arras]

I though something along these lines

This is the idea of Kinect and PS4 improved move system (I think that the Move on PS3 doesn't actually track the person holding the Move controller, it tracks only the light on the move controller). The Wii/Wii U doesn't follow a person's body and use it to input data onto a virtual reality.


This is the idea of PS Move system (both on PS3 and PS4) and on some Kinect acessories from the X360.
The Wii and Wii U actually doesn't have a camera system to control devices based on movements.

I think that the "news" is actually a satirical take on patent infringement lawsuits that companies have lost to Nintendo (where in those case the vague patents actually did had their similarities with the Wii/WiiU/DS/3DS gimmicks, but still, way too vague).

Actually, the Wii Remote partially works by having a built in infrared camera that looks for the sensor bar, then uses that information to calculate orientation/distance etc. On the other hand, the PS Move camera is not directly attached to the pointing device, so the patent certainly doesn't apply to that.