Nintendo of America has been ordered to get its cheque book out and pay a small East Texas gaming company $21 million. Apparently the US heavyweight was infringing on a patent while designing controllers for Wii and GameCube.
The AP reports that a federal jury ruled in favour of Anascape Ltd (quiet at the back).
The lawsuit was originally filed way back in 2006. A Nintendo spokesman said the company will seek an appeal and expects the court to reduce the award "significantly."
Looks like the whole thing's about motion control too, with the jury finding that Nintendo infringed on Anascape's patent while designing its Wii Classic, WaveBird and GameCube controllers.
Nintendo said it was pleased no infringement was found with the motion-sensing technology used in its Wii and Nunchuck controllers. Though they may have reminded Anascape where to look next.
Anascape also sued Microsoft for patent infringements on game controllers but reached an agreement with the company before the start of the trial against Nintendo. Terms of that deal are still being kept under lock and key.
They'll be able to find that money down back of sofa.
Exactly what I thought. Yamauchi's private bank-account is rumored to be something like 7 billion dollars. So Nintendo propably earns this amount of money every few hours.
"Nintendo fined $21 million for motion control infringement"
VS
"Nintendo said it was pleased no infringement was found with the motion-sensing technology used in its Wii and Nunchuck controllers."
How do those two go together. As far as I know, GameCube, WaveBird and ClassicController dont have any motion controls....
I'm not seeing the match either.
I cant see how ninty and microsoft could have infringed a patent and sony not. Doesn't make much sense to me.
Maybe because Sony's motion control is so crap, that they couldn't have possibly copied anyone...
No no; the patent infringment has nothing to do with motion controllers despite the article. The patent infringment was on the Gamecube, Wavebird and Classic Controller - no motion controllers.
Microsoft were also sued for their Xbox controller pad, and so Waste_Management is at a loss as to why Sony wasn't sued when their Playstation controllers use more or less the same technology employed by the Xbox and GameCube controllers.
No no; the patent infringment has nothing to do with motion controllers despite the article. The patent infringment was on the Gamecube, Wavebird and Classic Controller - no motion controllers.
That's what I wanted to say. To put it that way: The article has the wrong headline.
The strange thing is, they say its about the motion-controler in the headline, and than that it isnt about it in the text itself.
Should be: "Nintendo fined $21 million for controller-design infringement"
"Sony has already lost a lawsuit regarding patent infringement in its DualShock game pads, and now rivals Microsoft and Nintendo are facing their own legal battles over controller technology. Texas-based Anascape alleged that both companies infringed on 12 patents dealing with analog sensors, tactile feedback and vibration mechanisms."
Hope that clears things up a bit, although "tactile feedback" is that rumble or motion sensing?
Thats the issue with patents - they're too vague and leave too much to interpretation. You could take a VCR Remote and tape it to a vibrator and claim that Nintendo ripped off your patent.
Thats the issue with patents - they're too vague and leave too much to interpretation. You could take a VCR Remote and tape it to a vibrator and claim that Nintendo ripped off your patent.
I've decided to patent the hover car. I should get a fair amount of money out of that one.
"Sony has already lost a lawsuit regarding patent infringement in its DualShock game pads, and now rivals Microsoft and Nintendo are facing their own legal battles over controller technology. Texas-based Anascape alleged that both companies infringed on 12 patents dealing with analog sensors, tactile feedback and vibration mechanisms."
Hope that clears things up a bit, although "tactile feedback" is that rumble or motion sensing?
I thought it was rumble and that's why SIXAXIS has none.
"Sony has already lost a lawsuit regarding patent infringement in its DualShock game pads, and now rivals Microsoft and Nintendo are facing their own legal battles over controller technology. Texas-based Anascape alleged that both companies infringed on 12 patents dealing with analog sensors, tactile feedback and vibration mechanisms."
Hope that clears things up a bit, although "tactile feedback" is that rumble or motion sensing?
I thought it was rumble and that's why SIXAXIS has none.
Makes sense I suppose but whats the difference between tactile feedback and vibration mechanisms i wonder, like someone said above, it's all very open-ended and could mean anything
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