Pictured: Nintendo’s legal counsel
Over the years, many people have sued Nintendo for a whole host of reasons. They’ve been sued over the Wii‘s motion technology (and won the same case again in appeals court), the clocks in the DSi and 3DS, the Wii’s motion technology (again), the 3DS’ glasses-free 3D, and even Donkey Kong’s name. Most of the time, these motions are just patent trolls looking for a quick buck. This is one of those times.
RecogniCorp, a company with a name that evokes the bad guys from mid-period Stallone vehicles, sued Nintendo over the technology behind the Mii. Since the lawsuit was filed in 2011, and RecogniCorp’s patent mostly deals with “storing police sketch-artist data,” it’s likely the lawsuit took issue with Nintendo’s face-scanning tech.
As of yesterday, Nintendo has officially won their lawsuit with RecogniCorp. It’s possible the suit will end up in appeals court, but I can’t imagine it will gain any traction. “We are very pleased with Judge Jones’ decision, which finally put an end to RecogniCorp’s attempt to cover inventions to which it has no rights,” Ajay Singh, Nintendo’s director of litigation and compliance wrote in a press release.
