Nintendo Lose Patent Lawsuit, Owe $21 Million

In 2006, a small Texan company by the name of Anascape Ltd. took Nintendo and Microsoft to court, claiming the pair had infringed on patents Anascape held relating to game controllers (presumably this one, filed in 2000, for a "3D controller with vibration"). While Microsoft decided to settle things out of court, Nintendo stuck to their guns, a move which has now cost them $21 million after a Federal jury ruled in Anascape's favour. The ruling applies to Nintendo's GameCube, Wavebird and Classic controllers (but not the Wii Remote or Nunchuk). Nintendo have said only that they plan to appeal, and that they expect the court to "significantly" reduce the amount of money they have to cough up.

1. I can see why Microsoft settled. Even when they win a suit, it's a PR loss. That's likely why they settle with Immersion.

2. So the Rumble Pack is different enough not to count, but the Classic Controller does?

3. From the way that's put, I think Nintendo is willing to pay. They just want to go through other possibilities first, to keep face. It's not as though Nintendo would have trouble making up. Just release Mario Party 9 or something.

If they do drag this out, then I'm haning my head in shame.

Pfft 21 million $ is notthing compared to what they're making wiith the Wii and DS these idiots just want some money i hate these small co they're like prasites.

 The N64 controller can't be included in this lawsuit because it was released 4 years before the patent was filed.

Now, what I don't understand, is that Nintendo has used derivatives of their exsisting technology in all their newer controllers, so why can't they get this thrown out because they have prior art to this patent being filed, which would void the patent.

Also, feedback seemed to be a key feature of this patent, and the classic controller is included even though it doesn't have feedback, yet the Nunchuck isn't included and is essentially 1/2 of a classic controller. 

If they included new parts, that violate the patent, it counts. 

What I don't understand is how can a lawsuit on a controller with vibration be applied to two controllers without vibration (Classic and Wavebird).

Mike from Morgantown

PS -- This points out to how bad the patent system is ... patent parking is a plague.

Nintendo have made billions from the wii, what is $21,000,000 to them

Indeed, patent trolls are full of fail.

But...Nintendo should just cough the $21 mil and get this over with.

"patent trolls" that made me lol.

its too massive!!!! jk lol!!!

Anybody who thinks they should pay this is fooling themselves.  Sure they can afford to pay it.  But why should they?  Unfortunately with our patent system they will likely have to pay something.  But they can get this reduced.  And they should get it reduced.  $21 million is a lot of money no matter how you slice it.