Nintendo Wii Faces Legal Battle Over Controller Patents
Nintendo’s revolutionary Wii console could face a US sales ban, after an American manufacturer has claimed that four of its patents for on-screen navigation and control technology have been infringed by the famous Japanese company.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to investigate Hillcrest Laboratories’ allegations that Nintendo violated three patents hillcrest owns relating to a “handheld three-dimensional pointing device” and a fourth for a “navigation interface display system that graphically organises content for display on television”.
The ITC said that the complaint alleges “violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930” and that it relates to “certain videogame machines and related three-dimensional pointing devices”.
The first part of the investigation will be handled by one of five ITC administrative law judges, who will hold an evidentiary hearing. The judge will then have to make an initial decision on whether there has been a violation of section 337, after which ITC will make a final decision over the lawsuit’s merits.
Hillcrest is hoping for an exclusion order and a cease and desist order, which if approved could see the Wii and its controllers banned from sale in the US, and from being imported.
Charlie Scibetta, a spokesman for Nintendo of America, released a statement that claimed that none of the videogame pioneer’s products infringe Hillcrest Laboratories’ patents. Nintendo plans to “vigorously defend” its position, he said
Leave a Comment