Court reverses decision that would have Nintendo pay $10 Million to patent trolls

I’m starting to think Nintendo has some of the best lawyers in the videogame business. Earlier today, we told you that they managed to get the German courts to allow them to continue some debatably anti-consumer pre-order practices. They’ve also managed to overturn a $10 million patent suit from a Texas company who claims that Nintendo stole its patents for use in the Wii Remote.

The Wii was an unfathomably popular console that made Nintendo vast sums of money, and when that success happened, patent trolls tried to get their slice of that pie. In 2017, a jury found in favour of the Texas-based iLife Technologies who claimed that Nintendo’s Wii remote infringed on several of its patents, awarding the company $10 Million.

Now a Dallas court has overturned that decision, with presiding Judge Barbara G. Lynn finding that iLife was unable to say exactly what invention the Wii Remote had copied, and that their patents were only over vague ideas.

“Overall, claim 1 encompasses a sensor that senses data, a processor that processes data, and a communications device that communicates data,” said the honorable Judge G. Lynn. “No further inventive concept is recited to transform the abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention.”

And that’s fair.

”Nintendo has a long history of developing new and unique products, and we are pleased that, after many years of litigation, the court agreed with Nintendo,” Nintendo of America spokesman Ajay Singh said in a statement provided to BusinessWire. “We will continue to vigorously defend our products against companies seeking to profit off of technology they did not invent.”

Last Updated: January 23, 2020