Nintendo Loses Lawsuit!

Not the $144 million Ilife were looking for.

Nintendo have to appeal it, they can't allow the court to rule against them on it. Other companies have paid up in similar out of court settlements though, suggesting the patent is probably sound.

This just in, patent reform still direly needed

$10 million? Sounds like Nintendo won.

This... this is why we can't have nice things. Nintendo wants to inovate new gaming controls and gimmicks, and then jerks like these come along to hurt and discourage them. 

Can you imagine the backlash against a company that "shuts down" production on Nintendo's well-loved current gen console? They'd get death threats, be massively trolled, and probably hacked into oblivion. It's a terrible idea.

Nintendo gets sued over wiimotes all the time and I don't believe they've ever lost until now. I'm not surprised if you try, try and try again a jury will give it to you eventually. I expect Nintendo to win the appeal. And the game vice thing is hilarious. I used to have controller grips I could put on the side of my GBA. No ideas are original these days, good luck trying to prove Nintendo stole that one. Maybe Apple will sue them next for making a tablet.

The patent system has gotten to the point that it grants too many multiple overlapping broadly worded and even more broadly interpreted by juries patents. Nintendo invented most of this stuff in Japan where (from experience) they do not routinely read US patents when inventing things (aka don't ever at all because their English is generally not good enough), then on top of that there is no way to invent anything any more becauise US patents that have already been awarded are so broad that they cover everything, never mind the mind blowing number of patents that exist (how anyone is EVER supposed to make sure their product doesn't step on another's patents is ludicrous - and stupid since the US Patent Office is supposed to do that before the patents are granted!!) WTF??? Even in more sane places where definitions are less broadly worded and interpretations are much closer to the specific wording, fewer patents are granted, more originality is required and a lot of technical fields can't have patents have these same problems... but their progress towards a working system doesn't matter since companies just sue in the places most likely to allow them to make a million bucks off someone else's work, marketing budget and good brand name. This is why companies pull out of markets and why technology in the US may well end up all the worse for it (outside of homegrown companies assuming they don't also bug out) just like US pharma(ceuticals) and ag(ricultural )chem(icals) has suffered for the same reason.