It has finally happened. Ever since Nintendo announced their remote-like controller for the "Revolution" (before they decided to honor it with the glorious mantle of the Wii), companies everywhere have been keeping a very close eye on the Wiimote and Nintendo's plans for it. Now, less than a month after the launch of their new console, Nintendo is already faced with a lawsuit coming from a company by the name of Interlink Electronics.
Admittedly, I have never once in my entire life heard of Interlink. However, the "About" page on their Web site claims they are "one of the world's leading innovators of intuitive interface design." To their credit, at the very least, the company knows how to use alliteration reasonably well.
Interlink Electronics is one of the world’s leading innovators of intuitive interface design. From our corporate headquarters in Camarillo, California and offices in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, we design, develop and manufacture human interface products and solutions for consumers and consumer electronics companies around the world. With more than 80 patents and a rich 15-year history, Interlink has established itself as a clear business and technology leader in a wide range of markets.
The company has filed a complaint against Nintendo for patent infringement and jury demand. Here's the bit that counts:
6. On February 1, 2005, U.S. Patent No. 6,850,221 ("the '221 patent"), entitled "Trigger Operated electronic Device," was duly and legally issued. (See Exhibit A, U.S. Patent No. 6,850,221.)
7. Defendant has made, used, offered for sale and sold in the United States, and continues to make, use, offer for sale and sell in the United States one or more controllers, which activities infringe, induce others to infringe, and/or contributorily inringe the '221 patent.
8. Plaintiff has suffered damages, including but not limited to, loss of reasonable royalties, reduced sales and/or lost profits as a result of the infringing activities of the defendant, and will continue to suffer such damage as long as those infringing activities continue.
Hit the jump for more, and to view images of the patent.
Of course, every problem -- no matter how great -- has a solution, and this one is no different. Just like any other company that files lawsuits, Interlink has some demands for relief that they request be met:
A. Preliminary and permanently enjoining and restraining defendant, its officers, directors, employees, agents, servants, successors, and assigns, and any and all persons acting in privity and in concert with the defendants, from further infringement of the '221 patent.;
B. Awarding Plaintiff its damages, together with prejudgement interest and costs, and increasing those damages to three times the amount found or assessed as provided by 35 U.S.C. § 284;
C. Declaring this an exceptional case of 35 U.S.C. § 284, and awarding Plaintiff its reasonable attorney's fees and costs and disbursements in this action; and
D. Granting to plaintiff such other and further relief as this Court deems reasonable.
In other words, they want money. Lots of it. What will you do, Nintendo? Will you fight back, as Sony did against Immersion, or will you pay them off and avoid getting your hands dirty? We're a gaming news blog, so it should be pretty obvious who we're going to be siding with on this one. Go get 'em, tiger.
Contest:
10:10 AM on 12.08.2006
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This has nothing to stand on. The patent drawing is of what amounts to a glorified remote control. Nintendo's controller uses infrared signals to triangulate itself in 3D space and then transmit that info via Bluetooth. Basically, this company has a patent on handheld devices with..I don't know, buttons on the bottom. Weak.
1) The wii-remote has the IR camera, and the 'sensor' sends out the IR. Their patent works the opposite direction, with the remote sending out IR, and the sensor picking it up.
2) The rest of the patent looks like they have a patent on a remote control. Of which I don't understand how they could have it.
My 2 cents, Nintendo doesn't pay them a dime.
A device particularly for use with a computer comprises a housing for location at least partly between two fingers of a user's hand and an electronic circuit mounted on a board within the housing. The circuit includes a switch responsive to pressure selectively to open and close an electronic circuit, and conductive elements arranged on the board mounting the electronic circuit.
And isn't it impossible to patent something that's already patented? Why would the patent office patent the wii-mote if it's infringing on another thing? Or is that there's so many patents that even the patent office can't know them all?
Slick design wonder whats it for.
If Interlink was smart they would have asked for $3 Mil in licencing and be done with it. Suing Nintendo and asking a judge to suspend sales of the Wii is basically just going to make Nintendo rip them to shreds.
All this "Nintendo is kiddie" thinking makes people forget the legal iron fist the entity wields. From the contracts of the NES era which were practically immoral to the numerous lawsuits over games (including Tetris), Nintendo has a very bad attitude when you try and fuck with thier money.
And Interlink is fucking with thier money.
I would love nothing more than to see them put these upstarts in their place.
"Plaintiff has suffered damages, including but not limited to, loss of reasonable royalties, reduced sales and/or lost profits as a result of the infringing activities of the defendant, and will continue to suffer such damage as long as those infringing activities continue."
plaintiff has suffered damages my ass. The Wiimote, when not used with some hacked up bluetooth software for windows, only works for the wii. I don't see how that in anyway "infring[es]" activities of a tiny company that probably isn't making huge sales to begin with.
Apparently these guys don't know who they're screwing with. They need to take a look at Nintendo's legal history. Hint: it's a history of pwning people in court...
automakers don't sue each other over silly things like that, but they patent all sorts of processes and other more specific things. Mazda has a patent on the wankel engine, for example.
to everyone else: Patent laws are different in every country though. I'd say for the most part they hinder innovation worldwide, preventing people from building off the ideas of others. Everybody wants the credit though and everybody wants the money so people are always looking for ways to make their design just different enough. Some positive news is that patents do expire after 20 or 25 years.
Anyway you guys have already pointed out Nintendo has all their patents so there shouldn't be a problem here.
Kick Interlink's ass Reggie, kick their ass.
I say that they get Phoenix Wright to defend them, lol.
Yes, patents are being abused constantly. In fact, it's partially responsible for the slow progress in the medical field. People are trying to patent portions of human DNA, forcing pharmaceutical companies to pay them if they want to work on cures using those portions of the human genome. As a result, pharmaceutical companies will forgo working on DNA and moving to other types of cures.
Don't get me wrong here, I think it's pathetic that Nintendo is getting sued over this and hope that in some way this will backfire at Interlink. But they're talking about a device that's hold in one hand, not two like N64 controller.
What I'm saying is that is Interlink isn't the small company that it first appeared to be. They got clients like big consumer brands Sony, Microsoft, HP, Bose and even the US military, those fancy computers you see in the cockpits of jet fighters are made by them. When a company like that starts to sue it worries me, they got the money to take this all the way to the end and there is no telling what will. happen.
Patents do more wrong than right and companies try to patent the weirdest stuff. Like Pepsi who'd tried to patent the color blue. Someone really gotta stop this nonsense.
design has a similarity, I guess, but the use is almost entirely unrelated.
I did some cursory examination, in fact, and I have no goddamn idea what interlink's remote is for.
And yea, I gotta second Blaine. Nintendo is a very friendly company, but if you fuck with their money, they will kill you.
The fact that a relatively unknown japanese company was able to hand Universal Studios their ass is still impressive to me.
They do have a lot of big name contracts, but I'd be curious to know exactly often they've worked with those some of those companies, and what came out of it. If they designed one prototype computer for a failed test model in the air force, they can still boast on their website that they had an air force contract. The only thing I'm familiar with them putting out recently are PC controllers. And methinks that one doesn't go from military contracts to making mouses by one's own volition.
now the wii devices trigger is not used for this reason, that is what the "A" button is used for.
all i ca say is good luck Nintendo...you rock