Nintendo's Wii Infringes on Philips' Remote Control patent
Philips Electronics NV has won a patent infringement cases against Nintendo in the United Kingdom, the first of four lawsuits filed against the Japanese gaming company.
Nintendo’s Wii and Wii U game consoles infringe two Philips remote control patents, the England and Wales High Court ruled Friday.
Philips sued Nintendo in 2012, alleging the game consoles infringed three of its remote control patents. The court found one of those patents invalid, but ruled that the game consoles infringed amended versions of the other two patents.
The infringed patents are for a "user interface system based on a pointing device." The patents describe a computer system with a handheld pointing device with both a camera and a physical motion sensor. The device is used for hand-gesture commands to a fixed unit with the gesture analysis based on motion trajectory of the device. The system uses room localization beacons and Philips’ patent says that this technology could be used for playing games, the court said.
Philips says it offers a license for its remote control patents, and that it had previously tried to negotiate a license agreement with Nintendo.
Philips also sued Nintendo over the same patents in Germany, in France and last month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, seeking a ban on U.S. imports and sales of Wii and Wii U consoles.