The two year long Anascape patent infringement suit has finally been settled. Nintendo has been ordered to pay Anascape $21 million to cover their “patent losses”. A snippet of the official statement below…
The jury found that Nintendo infringed on Anascape’s patent while designing its Wii Classic, WaveBird and Gamecube controllers.
Scibettra said Nintendo was pleased no infringement was found with the motion-sensing technology used in its wandlike Wii and Nuncheck controllers, which mimic movements by users in games such as tennis and boxing.
Attorneys for Anascape did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tyler-based Anascape also sued Microsoft Corp. for patent infringements on game controllers but reached an agreement with the company before the start of the trial against Nintendo, The Lufkin Daily News reported.
Though this could have been a lot worse, Nintendo seems to be cool with the situation. I still can’t believe the judicial system could be this blind toward situations like these (and many others). Again I ask the question: Where is Sony in all this? Not only that, but what company/business doesn’t have some form of “controller” with buttons/switches? Kitchen appliances, retail store scanners/registers, construction equipment, electric tooth brushes, etc. I don’t want to take this too far, but give me a break.