The company behind the Wavit Remote has sued Nintendo, Walmart, RadioShack, GameStop and others over the motion control technology used in the Wii.
ThinkOptics, the company that makes the Wavit Remote, has filed suit against Nintendo over allegations that the Wii console violates its patent for “electronic equipment for handheld vision based absolute pointing system.” The suit claims that Nintendo knew the Wii would infringe on its patent because parts of its own patent applications for the Wii were rejected by the U.S. Trademark Office.
Two other patents, one titled “Handheld device for handheld vision based absolute pointing system” and another, “Handheld vision based absolute porting system,” were also included in the complaint. ThinkOptics said just about every part of the Wii, even the games themselves, infringe upon its patents; it also claimed that the not-yet-released Wii U does as well.
The California-based ThinkOptics filed its action in the notoriously plaintiff-friendly U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas, naming Imation, Nyko Technologies, GameStop, RadioShack and JC Penney alongside Nintendo. The lawsuit seeks an injunction against the Wii and other related products that violate its patents, along with royalties, legal fees and other damages. And why did it take almost five full years after the launch of the Wii to get around to filing the suit? That, at this point, is anybody’s guess.
Source: TechCrunch
Published: Sep 9, 2011 05:42 pm