soniqstylz Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Sure, Sony and Nintendo may be competitors and probably don?t sit at the same table during lunch, but that doesn?t mean they can?t help each other out every once in a while. That?s exactly what went down today when Nintendo was found, once again, in court defending itself against a Texas firm?s exclusive rights to a temporary monopoly of sorts on a particular invention, otherwise known as a patent.The patent in question, U.S. Patent No. 6,906,700 filed in 2000, was awarded to Anascape Ltd back in 2005 and claims a handheld controller with multiple inputs and tactile feedback. One day back in the summer of 2006, Anascape decided to sue both Nintendo and Microsoft claiming their controllers infringed on a whole slew of patents. While Microsoft opted to settle out of court before the situation escalated, Nintendo stood its ground, lost, was ordered to pay $21 million in damages, and appealed multiple times. Now, you would think that considering the high costs associated with patent lawsuits Nintendo would simply accept defeat and move on. Instead the big N remained defiant until the end and, to much surprise, it actually paid off ? thanks to Sony. As it turns out, Anascapes ?700 patent is actually a ?continuation-in-part? application of an earlier patent filed in 1996 and awarded in 2001, U.S. Patent No. 6,222,525. This means that for the ?700 patent to be given the effective filed date of patent ?525 and thus the ability to invalidate any product sold between 1996 and 2000, patent ?525 has to support patent ?700. Still with us? Good. Since the court found patent ?525 nonsupport of patent ?700, ?700 was rendered invalid against products released prior to the date it was filed in the year 2000. But Nintendo?s GameCube, WaveBird and Wii Classic Controllers were released after 2000, so Anascape still won, right? Well, you?re right, kind of. You see, despite this little setback for Anascape, they would still have a case against Nintendo if it weren?t for Sony, who decided to start selling its original DualShock controller way back in 1998. Now, we?re not math majors, but we?re pretty sure 1998 comes before 2000 on the number line. Because of this the ?700 patent is effectively invalidated by what we in the legal field like to refer to as ?prior art?, causing the court to overturn the earlier rulings and enabling Nintendo to walk away victorious. Of course, the real winners here are the lawyers, amirite? In other news, Sony was seen today finishing up a juicy steak dinner while Nintendo picked up the tab. Sethos 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted April 15, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted April 15, 2010 https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/892748-nintendo-escapes-patent-troll-in-appeals-court-thanks-to-sony/ ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sethos Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 21 Million for Nintendo is chump change, the CEO wipes his ass with 21 million in 100 dollar bills a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikh Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 It also helps sony because thry are blantly ripping off nintendo for ps dildo, i mean ps move oh wait i mean ps wii. There you go, i got it right. also funny how nintendo cant just pay 21 million, after selling what? 28.# million consoles. Fail. EDIT: Before anyone has a cow, only thing sonys adding is rechargeable batterys and wireless for both the remote and nunchuck("joystick"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corris Veteran Posted April 15, 2010 Veteran Share Posted April 15, 2010 It also helps sony because thry are blantly ripping off nintendo for ps dildo, i mean ps move oh wait i mean ps wii. There you go, i got it right. also funny how nintendo cant just pay 21 million, after selling what? 28.# million consoles. Fail. EDIT: Before anyone has a cow, only thing sonys adding is rechargeable batterys and wireless for both the remote and nunchuck("joystick"). Ok then, you feel better after writing all that, most of which is completely off topic? And your ignoring the fact that the "Move" is using a completely different way of detecting the motion controls in the first place, just saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted April 16, 2010 Member Share Posted April 16, 2010 Nearly all of these current patents are invalid in some way if they would just investigate a little Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted April 16, 2010 Veteran Share Posted April 16, 2010 https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/892748-nintendo-escapes-patent-troll-in-appeals-court-thanks-to-sony/ Thread Closed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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