Such is iLife
Last week, A jury found in favour of Texas company iLife Technologies over their claims that the Nintendo Wii controller infringed upon six of the healthcare developer’s patents.
The body of the lawsuit was that the Wiimote for the Wii and Wii U used accelerometer technology, in order to track the speed and motion of a players hands in response to their surroundings. iLife stated that they had patent on such a system, planned for use in medical monitors that would detect sudden movement, such as an eldery person falling down, and call for emergency response.
iLife were originally seeking $4 for every Wii unit sold before they first filed suit, which would’ve been some 35 million units, for an approximate settlement of $144 million. The company have, in the past, attempted to sue FitBit for similar reasons, but the case was dismissed and settled out of court.
When the lawsuit was first filed, iLife defended against accusations of “Patent trolling”. “iLife and its CEO Michael Lehrman are the original inventors of this technology, and the company does not enforce any patents that it did not develop,” said iLife attorney Wallace Dunwoody back in 2013.
Nintendo are holding firm to the belief that they will seek, and succeed, in appealing. “Nintendo disagrees with the decision, as Nintendo does not infringe iLife’s patent and the patent is invalid,” said a press statement. “Nintendo looks forward to raising those issues with the district court.”
Nintendo lawsuit loss [Rolling Stone]
