Judge tosses Nintendo Wii patent suit

Since the launch of the Wii, Nintendo has been the subject of no fewer than 15 patent-related lawsuits. While many of those suits are still winding their way through the courts, Nintendo on Thursday issued a statement touting victory over Guardian Media Technologies in one of the more recent patent suits.

U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real in Los Angeles struck down allegations that the Wii could play DVD movies.

"We are very pleased with the court's decision," Rick Flamm, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of legal, said in a statement. "Nintendo vigorously defends patent lawsuits. At the earliest stages of this case, Nintendo convinced the court to dismiss this case as Guardian's patent had nothing to do with Nintendo's products."

Flamm is correct about the suit having nothing to do with Nintendo's products. The Wii maker was one of dozens of defendants in the suit, which alleged violations of Guardian's patent for parental-control technology in TV programs and DVD video playback. While the Wii does include parental control functions, it does not feature DVD video playback. Nintendo's early dismissal from the case comes a scant six months after the suit was first filed.

Earlier this year, a federal judge in Texas dismissed a patent suit against Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. That suit was brought by Fenner Investments and centered on a patent the firm holds for a "low-voltage joystick port interface." It was originally filed in January 2007.

In still another patent case, a judge in 2008 failed to overturn a verdict ordering Nintendo to pay $21 million to Anascape, a Texas company that holds a patent on motion-sensitive controllers.

Brendan Sinclair reported for GameSpot.

[Brian]

If the Patent attorneys did their job, there would never have been a lawsuit.

I think Nintendo needs a better Patent attorney to represent themselves as they develop technology products.

[gerrrg]

That's crap and we all know it.

Frivolous patent lawsuits and loose regulation that result in rewarding processes that were already in use or were not technically described properly beyond a simple diagram, are the real causes for perpetuating a dysfunctional USPTO and the patent trolls of this world.

Courts should immediately grant monetary relief to Nintendo for Guardian Media Technologies' inability of prima facia, and it should be a hefty fine equal to 1/2 of the total value of the lawsuit or 250% of lawyer's fees.

[make_or_break]

gerrrg: not all such lawsuits are brought by "patent trolls". Believe it or not, SOME patents are actually awarded to the people who actually developed, market, manufacture and license their ideas. Not all patents are controlled by sniping IP firms.

Brian: considering just HOW MANY patents are and have been awarded--both here in the U.S. and EVERYWHERE else around the globe--the task of researching the bejezus out of the process to completely protect one's self from possible infringement lawsuits is downright daunting, if not impossible.

[Brian]

@make_or_break

Patents eventually expire, so the daunting task is not just possible, but required.

[man_w_balls]

my Wii CAN play DVD movies. I just use Mplayer and it works great.

It will only play normal, store-bought DVDs, though - not burned discs of any kind.

The fact is that the Wii is fully hardware capable of DVD video playback. Only the software must be modified to enable it.

[Inconnux]

I have never once used a console to play movies... I want a GAMING system, not a movie player.

[faceless128]

buy better blanks? set the booktype to dvd-rom on +r? my wii plays retail movies and movies on dvd+/-r with mplayer ce.

[pj-mckay]

Why bother when it's output is so limited? And why bother with transcoders when you can use a pucka cheapo player for £20 and drive 1080, multichannel? I might be missing the point though so feel free to say 'why'.

Advice I was given years ago; Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

[Xenite227]

So sick of these worthless company's who just sit on patents and pray someone releases something even vaguely familair so they can sue them. Most know they have no case but hope the company will just want to settle the matter out of court.

[EmperorNemisis]

Honestly, how may different ways are there to join a transistor and a capacitor and a resistor together? US patent laws are the laughing stock of the civilized world. Some idiot goes a patents a oscillator and two months later sues the pants off everybody wearing or manufacturing watches! There are more than one way to sense something moving, thus the little Texas company that files for patent violation should be forced to present a circuit diagram to the courts comparing their backwater product to the properly researched controllers of Nintendo. Should the circuit diagram show the products to be identical, then take the case further otherwise screw them! Luckily that $21m would keep them from going under for another what? six to eight months.... money well spent seeing as everybody is going under these days.

[brandenS]

i read before this editorial that the texas company was to get $21 billion. and as far as their circuit board is concerned, it makes no difference. The only thing that matters is the language of the patent and whether a judge feels that nintendo owes royalties for implied or actual infringement. As far as i know the lawsuit refers to the gamecube controllers as well as the classic controller design. I am by no means an authority, i can just see how a little company can get taken advantage of by a massive corp. like big N. As far as the DVD playback, everyone knows that the wii can play DVD's, its just N's way of keeping cost down.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Just wondering, but isn't parental controls been in TVs and DVD players since the V-Chip and DVD players in 1996?

So to the company suing Nintendo and the other companies, I have one word for them:

"HELLO!"

[mectron]

patents system is completly broken behound repair. All those companies are nothing more then con operation and should be shutdown. You cannot own parental control the same you cannot own "people moving a remote in thin air". (c) and patents are the whorst thing you can imagine in a civilize world. it is everyone trying to STEAL money from everyone.