Wii remote prompts Lawsuit by Interlink

[8th lutz]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6162912.html?...estnews;title;2

 

Interlink Electronics, Inc., a California company that specializes in the design and manufacturing of interface devices, on Monday filed a complaint against Nintendo's US subsidiary, Nintendo of America, accusing it of patent infringement. Interlink's products include devices to assist in PowerPoint presentations, conference room keyboards, and portable speakers.

 

The complaint alleges that the trigger on the bottom of the Wii controller infringes on Interlink Patent No. 6,850,221 (Trigger Operated Electronic Device), which the company secured on February 1, 2005. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata first presented the Wii controller to the public not too long after that date, during the 2005 Tokyo Game Show.

 

The patent was -first filed on September 17, 1997--do look suspiciously similar to the Wii trigger, but in the filing, Interlink offers scant detail of exactly how Nintendo currently infringes on the '221 patent, stating only that, "Nintendo 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 infringe the '221 patent."

 

Interlink's pictures of the device are on the same page I gave the link to the article.

[Albert]

The patent system in this country is wildly out of control. There must be some prior art for a "remote" that has a "trigger" button like this. God forbid someone make an ergonomic controller with a trigger button that is designed to be easy to use with your index finger. I'd say that's a pretty obvious design when taking into account the form of the human hand.

 

..Al

[figgler]

That's what I think too.

This smacks of desperation more than anything actually valid

[MCHufnagel]

Designs are imitated all the time. If the trigger doesn't work by the same exact method, I don't see this case going very far. That's why Immersion won it's cases. MS and Sony basically copied the way the rumble worked instead of creating their own method.

[EmOneGarand]

Hmm.. just wait for somebody who claims their very very distant relative invented the wheel and sues every tire company... Lawsuits are getting way out of hand.. why not have somebody claim they are related to the person who invented the box and sue every industry.

[jbanes]

I realize that things have changed in 20 years, but I hope that Nintedo smacks these guys down like they did Universal. i.e. HARD

 

As for their BS patent, I suppose they've never heard of the N64 controller? Given that the Wiimote trigger is a direct descendent of the N64 controller, a judge might end up deciding prior art, and invalidate the Interlink patent. Which could be kind of funny if Nintendo patented the N64 controller design, as they could then come back and sue Interlink for patent infringement.

[misspent_youth]

Maybe whomever owns Coleco's IP should sue everybody involved. I mean, they had four triggers on their Super Action controller.

[CPUWIZ]

Man, you guys think this is bad, do some research on patents filed in the medical sector. They do shit that prevents people from working on cures.

 

BTW, did anyone catch the news about the patent Sony filed 20 months ago?

[Shannon]

Man, you guys think this is bad, do some research on patents filed in the medical sector. They do shit that prevents people from working on cures.

 

BTW, did anyone catch the news about the patent Sony filed 20 months ago?

 

Yeah I thunk I did, slips my mind at the moment but it looked remarkably similar to something used in the wii.

[CPUWIZ]

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/12/06/sony-pat...-20-months-ago/

[Cheese007]

If it weren't for the fact that if this goes to court there would be a jury, Interlink probably wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell. Then again, the judge might not even be able to tell the difference.

[jbanes]

If it weren't for the fact that if this goes to court there would be a jury, Interlink probably wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell. Then again, the judge might not even be able to tell the difference.

THis is a civil case, not a criminal one. While the judge might permit a jury, I think it would be more likely that the court would decide the matter directly.

[rockman_x_2002]

Well, this is nothing spectacularly new in the video game world. Someone comes up with something, and it turns out that so-and-so already came up with the patents and ideas for it. They sue, some royalties are paid, hands are shaken, and all is right with the world once again. Just like it was back during the whole Atari/Magnavox deal, except with a couple more zeroes on the end.

 

I do still think it's all silly, though. One argument they could use, though it may not fly past a judge, is that the devices are designed with two totally different things in mind. Interlink's device works on a PC for Powerpoint presentations. Nintendo's Wiimote is a video game device. The trigger on the Wiimote is, for all intents and purposes, a button. I can't imagine that one could patent something trivial as a simple button. If you can, then as mentioned earlier... you might just as well go patent the wheel, hand-made stone tools, and fire too.

 

That's why I didn't go into law. Yeah, everything may be all legal and by the book... but sometimes all the patents and copyrights and legal mumbo-jumbo throws all common sense right out the window.

[EmOneGarand]

This also reminds me of how Konami sued Roxor for making In the Groove, they claim that the 4 panel dance pad is their intellectual property.. if you know anything about the circuitry of the controls on the DDR arcade machines you'd see that they are the same as any other gamepad. Because of Konami not wanting anybody to make any money on Dance games but themselves, Roxor had to cancel their series. It's all cheap blows for the sake of the green.

[EmOneGarand]

Man, you guys think this is bad, do some research on patents filed in the medical sector. They do shit that prevents people from working on cures.

 

BTW, did anyone catch the news about the patent Sony filed 20 months ago?

Doesn't that mean the company that invented the TV Remote or the infrared recivers could sue Sony? I don't see the difference, the function is exactly the same and many companies have produced remote control devices without lawsuit. Why doesn't Interlink sue gun manufacturers, they have triggers too. Radar guns? Triggers. The Nintendo Zapper? Had a trigger too.

[Foxy Cleopatra]

Man, you guys think this is bad, do some research on patents filed in the medical sector. They do shit that prevents people from working on cures.

 

BTW, did anyone catch the news about the patent Sony filed 20 months ago?

 

Having worked for a pharma company that was sued for patent issues, the explanation we got from our patent attorneys was something like this:

"The suer is attempting several things with this lawsuit. 1) forcing the suee to reveal formulation, research and development 2) putting a hold on the suee's production ability 3) hopefully getting a share of the suee's profits. blah blah blah profits money competition etc. etc. et cetera.

 

Most likely in this case the suer wants to know how Nintendo made their controller, whether any of Interlink's technology was used. If Nintendo can show a completely unique line of development, from concept to implementation, they'll be fine. If they can't, Interlink will rightly being sharing in the Wiimote profits.

 

Just like pirating games is horribly wrong, or downloading music on the Internet is stealing, unauthorized use and sale of technology is also wrong, even if its a big company doing it.... or maybe especially if a big company is doing it.