U.S. Firm Reports Nintendo to Feds in Wiimote Patent Dispute
U.S. Firm Reports Nintendo to Feds in Wiimote Patent Dispute
September 18, 2008
Last month GamePolitics reported that Maryland-based Hillcrest Labs sued Nintendo for alleged patent law violations in regard to the Wii's motion-sensitive controller.
Hillcrest has now upped the ante.
As Reuters reports, the firm, which claims that patents for its motion-senstive remote control The Loop were infringed upon by the Wiimote, has also lodged a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, a government agency.
The ITC's enforcement powers enable it to block foreign-made products which are judged to infringe upon patents of U.S. firms. A posting on the agency's website reports that it has indeed launched an investigation which will require responses from Nintendo of Japan and Nintendo of America. An explanation of the investigative timeline is posted on the ITC website:
By instituting this investigation... the ITC has not yet made any decision on the merits of the case. The ITC's Chief Administrative Law Judge will assign the case to one of the ITC's five administrative law judges (ALJ), who will schedule and hold an evidentiary hearing. The ALJ will make an initial determination as to whether there is a violation of section 337; that initial determination is subject to review by the Commission.
The ITC will make a final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time. Within 45 days after institution of the investigation, the ITC will set a target date for completing the investigation. ITC remedial orders in section 337 cases are effective when issued and become final 60 days after issuance unless disapproved for policy reasons by the U.S. Trade Representative within that 60-day period.
A PUBLICATION OF THE ECA
SUBSCRIBE
LOGINGamePolitics ShoutBox
Posted 11/21/09 at 08:16am
ZippyDSMlee: Welcome and goodmorning its zippy in the AM....wat OMG its 8:50AM!!!!
ZippyDSMlee: Welcome and goodmorning its zippy in the AM....wat OMG its 8:50AM!!!!
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:42pm
ZippyDSMlee: oh may the cute stab out your eyes, http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat
ZippyDSMlee: oh may the cute stab out your eyes, http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:17pm
JDKJ: O.K. Suit yourself. But when you're wearing Ray-Bans, sitting on a curb with a white cane and a cup of pencils, and doing Stevie Wonder impersonations, don't say I didn't warn you.
JDKJ: O.K. Suit yourself. But when you're wearing Ray-Bans, sitting on a curb with a white cane and a cup of pencils, and doing Stevie Wonder impersonations, don't say I didn't warn you.
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:10pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No thank you I don;t want your cooties...or STDs...
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No thank you I don;t want your cooties...or STDs...
Posted 11/20/09 at 05:01pm
JDKJ: Me. I'm rehearsing the role just in case I do get dubbed Zippy The Soecnda.
JDKJ: Me. I'm rehearsing the role just in case I do get dubbed Zippy The Soecnda.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:59pm
DarkSaber: Wait, is that meant to be Zippy, me or you?
DarkSaber: Wait, is that meant to be Zippy, me or you?
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:49pm
JDKJ: I cud caer lez. =^^= *wakes up in mid-afternoon after staying up until 3:00AM soldering resistors on to circuit boards, stumbles around in formerly white but now grey underwear, while simultaneously scratching groin with vigor and making coffee*
JDKJ: I cud caer lez. =^^= *wakes up in mid-afternoon after staying up until 3:00AM soldering resistors on to circuit boards, stumbles around in formerly white but now grey underwear, while simultaneously scratching groin with vigor and making coffee*
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:46pm
DarkSaber: knell? Don't you mean Neil? Anymore of tht and I'll dub thee Zippy The Soecnda
DarkSaber: knell? Don't you mean Neil? Anymore of tht and I'll dub thee Zippy The Soecnda
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:44pm
JDKJ: Now, now, Saber. Don't be salty. You weren't the first one to knell and bob and you ain't gonna be the last one, either.
JDKJ: Now, now, Saber. Don't be salty. You weren't the first one to knell and bob and you ain't gonna be the last one, either.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:42pm
DarkSaber: JD's feeling rather desperate it seems.
DarkSaber: JD's feeling rather desperate it seems.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:33pm
JDKJ: C'mon, Zip. You already touch yourself way too much. Spread the love. Before you go blind.
JDKJ: C'mon, Zip. You already touch yourself way too much. Spread the love. Before you go blind.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No and I ain't touching any part of you or your friends!! :P
ZippyDSMlee: JD:No and I ain't touching any part of you or your friends!! :P
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:25pm
JDKJ: @Zip: You know Lik Mitaint?
JDKJ: @Zip: You know Lik Mitaint?
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:18pm
ZippyDSMlee: neill and bob,oldest giveing head joke and most lamest...
ZippyDSMlee: neill and bob,oldest giveing head joke and most lamest...
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:18pm
JDKJ: But thanks for the memory. MIB's a classic. *sings* "Here come the Men in Black. Galaxy defenders. Here come the Men in Black. They won't let you remember."
JDKJ: But thanks for the memory. MIB's a classic. *sings* "Here come the Men in Black. Galaxy defenders. Here come the Men in Black. They won't let you remember."
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:18pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:for the record I told you you can suck your own dck.
ZippyDSMlee: JD:for the record I told you you can suck your own dck.
Posted 11/20/09 at 04:07pm
JDKJ: Naw, man. That's Mueedeegiaap and Bob. And you can stop bobbing. I got Zippy bobbing now, too.
JDKJ: Naw, man. That's Mueedeegiaap and Bob. And you can stop bobbing. I got Zippy bobbing now, too.
Posted 11/20/09 at 03:56pm
DarkSaber: OH I get it now! It's Men In Black quote! The twins that run the comm centre in HQ.
DarkSaber: OH I get it now! It's Men In Black quote! The twins that run the comm centre in HQ.
Posted 11/20/09 at 03:49pm
JDKJ: I'd like to introduce you to them. First, Neil. Then, Bob.
JDKJ: I'd like to introduce you to them. First, Neil. Then, Bob.
Posted 11/20/09 at 03:47pm
ZippyDSMlee: JD:I know they are intimate friends of yours...
ZippyDSMlee: JD:I know they are intimate friends of yours...
Copyright © 2007 ECA. All rights reserved.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
Comments
Well that's just being an asshole about it.
Indeed. But I don't expect it to get them anywhere. Nintendo has survived worse.
If it goes through, Nintendo will pay Hillcrest and just keep selling Wiis. There's no way the Wii will be taken off US shelves.
Thats exactly what they want actually. If they reported it earlier, the Wii would of been taken off the shelf and the games wouldnt be sold in the US. How ever they've waited till Nintendo got to a point to where they couldnt just stop selling them, leaving Nintendo two options, either A pay them, or B somehow win against their claim.
Did Hillcrest also invent the Power Glove?
Why would they want to take credit for it even if they did?
Why would someone want to attack a bee hive with a blowtorch while a plastic bag is covering their head?
(It's happened, believe it or not. Check one of the Darwin Award books.)
Those books tend to be half fictional and half made up.
I remember that particular one having made the news in the country it happened in. Brazil, maybe?
That's my point ... Doesn't the Wiimote seem like a technological successor of the Power Glove? It is not like Nintendo came out of the blue and announced they were going to use motion sensor remotes - they've done it before - so it seems like a shot in the dark for these people to accuse Nintendo of doing that they've already done before!
One of the reasons I'm not concerned. It's just like that douchebag who's suing David Jaffe.
Its also quite simular to how the Super Scope worked for the SNES if I remember correctly. The Zapper would use the scanlines (which would make a zapper not work on flatscreen tvs now days) while the superscope worked with IR. When ever you started a game, you started out with a little screen at the start where you would aim and fire at specific spots to calibrate.
The Power Glove was created by Mattel.
Haven't like 4 different companies sued Nintendo over the Wii Remote motion sensing technology? They can't all have a patent on the same technology.
Granted, "The Loop" is an actual retail product which gives this one a bit more juice, but most of these lawsuits just seem like someone trying to cash in on someone elses success by abusing an out-dated patent system who's controlling body is ill equipped to handle disputes about modern technology.
This is a little unusual for a patent troll. It reminds me of the Trend Micro-Barracuda Networks spat...
Very telling that these all came so late.
Hillcrest better have a really really really good case, because if they don't Nintendo can use all the money they are currently printing to keep appealing until Hillcrest has no funds left to fight with. But more likely, Nintendo will just pay them to shut up.
How many more times is Nintendo going to be sued before someone puts a stop to this. Its getting anoying already. What, if one company invents a 3d pointer that automaticly means no one else has the right to make their own? What about inovation or progress? You can't patent or copyright a sent or perfume. Whoever came up with that idea should have came up with something for similar technology. video games, movies, cartoon caracters, and a few other things I can understand to a point, but 3d controllers, thats like someone trying to patent the wheel. If Nintendo didn't market the 3d controller some one else would have, only no one would have cared and no one would be making any real money off of it. If people are just going to sue each other over trivial matters then maybe the 3d controller should be taken out of patent and be put in public domain that way the only thing that any one has to worry about is real competition.
If Nintendo can produce some "prior art" (meaning a similar device/idea that they created before Hillcrest created theirs or even a similar thing created by another company before) the Hillcrest patent should be declared void, even If Nintendo did not have a patent at the time.
Or does this only work that way here in Europe?
Also, what's with the vague language in US patents? It's amazing that people can get patents with some of the descriptions I have seen over the years. Some of those claims could cover ANYTHING.
Yes we do have prior art laws that can invalidate a patent if the prior art exists.
As for the vague patents, I believe that is not confined to the US. The way patents applications work, is that the person submits an application with the broadest terms and description possible and everytime it is rejected, they tighen up the language just a little bit until the patent is accepted. That way, the owner of the patent can sue anyone with a similar type of product and actually have a case.
E. Zachary Knight
http://www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Thanks for the info.
Its too bad that patents were originally designed to give inventors a window of opportunity to profit from their idea's but are now used as a kind of blunt instrument to extort money from people with similar, but not quite, identical idea's.
Especially bad are the trolls who just sit on their extremely broad patents for years and only attack after a company has become successful.
There should really be some kind of limit to that to prevent misuse like this (sue within a year from the point at which your patent was violated or something).
At least these people have a product, even if it seems to be to badly realized and clunky to make much money on it's own.
This is why it's my opinion that the Patent system does more to stifle creativity nowadays than promote it.
Let's see Jack get involved with this!
Anyway, since The Loop was only meant as a TV remote, they hardly have a case against Nintendo, since they made the Wii Remote for more than just messing with your TV.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I AM DOOMED TO HAUNT JACK THOMPSON'S DREAMS UNTIL HIS CRUSADE AGAINST VIDEO GAMES ENDS.
If it does infringe upon Hillcrest's patent it would be understandable if the wiimote was withdrawn from production, but that doesn't mean Nintendo will have to cease production of Wiis.
This is pretty odd for a patent troll to go to. I guess they're trying to yell "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!"
Heh, it's been a while since Nintendo was in legal waters by American companies. The last big time was the mid 80s Atari vs Nintendo lawsuits.
Come on Nintendo, you guys make $1.6 million per employee, just shut these people up. I'm tired of hearing about it.
This is a good message for me..Its too bad that patents were originally designed to give inventors a window of opportunity to profit from their idea's but are now used as a kind of blunt instrument to extort money from people with similar, but not quite, identical idea's.EspeciallyTiffany Jewellery bad are the trolls who Tiffany Jewellery just sit on their extremely broad patents for years and only attack after a company has become successful.There should really be some kind of limit to that to prevent misuse like this (sue within a year from the point at which your patent was violated or something).
At least these people have a product, even if it seems to be to badly realized and clunky to make much money on it's own.