After scoring a legal victory over Triton Tech of Texas, LLC last week, Nintendo was on the wrong end of a legal decision reached just a few days later. On June 20 judge Colin Birss reached a decision regarding the case involving Nintendo and Dutch tech giant Koninklijke Philips N.V. (more commonly known as Philips). Last month Philips filed a lawsuit against Nintendo claiming that the technology used in the Wii, Wiimote and Wii Remote Plus controllers, Nunchuk, Balance Board, Wii U console, Wii U GamePad, Wii Mini and Wii MotionPlus were in violation of patent issued to Philips on September 4, 2001, as well as two other patents.
The basic premise behind these patents concerned what the company referred to as "HCI" or "human-computer interaction" as well as Nintendo's sale of such products in the United States. Essentially, anything involving motion-sensing controls falls under the umbrella of Philips' patents. The Wii and the Wii U certainly qualify for such a distinction. You can read the court documents here if you desire more detail.
The judge ultimately ruled that Nintendo infringed on two of Philips patents, saying that, "The common general knowledge did not include a device combining a physical motion sensor with a camera and the reasons advanced by Nintendo for putting those two sensors together in one unit are unconvincing."
Nintendo responded to the ruling by stating, "Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others. Nintendo is committed to ensuring that this judgment does not affect continued sales of its highly acclaimed line of video game hardware, software and accessories and will actively pursue all such legitimate steps as are necessary to avoid any interruptions to its business."
There have been no specific numbers released revealing the amount of money that Philips is seeking to earn from this decision. However, regardless of what they desire, the company may have to wait for their compensation. Nintendo has already announced their intention to appeal the decision.
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[via Polygon]
