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Has anybody out there ever heard of a company called ThinkOptics? Well, neither have any of us. But now Nintendo certainly seems to be hearing from them in the form of a lawsuit.
ThinkOptics are going to sue Nintendo over the Wii, citing copyright infringement. The company’ main product is the Wavit remote. The Wavit is essentially a remote control for your computer, letting you select content and adjust volume and zoom with a twist or thrust of the remote. Kind of like a Wii remote, isn’t it?
The patent that ThinkOptics is claiming Nintendo infringed upon is U.S. Patent Number 7,796,116, titled “Electronic equipment for handheld vision based absolute pointing system.” ThinkOptics claims that Nintendo “knew or should have known of the objective risk that one or more of their products infringed at least one claim of at least the ’116 Patent.” They are also including two other patents in this case: Patent 7,852,317 “Handheld Device for Handheld Vision Based Absolute Pointing System” and Patent 7,864,159 “Handheld Vision Based Absolute Pointing System.”
Now this lawsuit is not only about the Wii remote. This lawsuit is about the entire system, the sensor bar, the Wii remotes and even some of the games. ThinkOptics also says that the upcoming Nintendo system Wii U infringes on their patents in some extent.
Along with Nintendo, ThinkOptics is suing some major retailers including Walmart, Gamestop, RadioShack, Imation, Nyko Technologies and JC Penney. The company wants an injunction against violating products along with royalties, attorney’s fees and damages for lost for lost profits.
While many of you may be laughing at the idea of this company no one has heard of taking on Nintendo but with the court that ThinkOptics chose, they may have a chance.
ThinkOptics has taken their case to the court in Marshall, Texas. This court seems to be a haven for patent cases, since the judges and juries there seem to favor the plaintiff in these cases. Some years ago Intel got sued in Marshall and ended up paying out $150 million to the plaintiff.
So far, a jury trial has been requested.
This is a ridiculous notion. Although ThinkOptics may have a strong arguement about the design being similar to theirs, their negligence in making this public knowledge is staggering. The Wii was initially announced at E3 2004. At this point the system was not fully developed but the basic idea of the system was given. This was the first oportunity for ThinkOptics to raise a complaint and try to work to a reasonable solution. One year later, at E3 2005, the Wii was unveiled showing the full design and gameplay. Once again this is the point where ThinkOptics should be waving their red flags. The Wii was released in 2006, meaning it has been selling and making money for 5 years. What possible reason is there to wait so long, other than making more money from the lawsuit? If ThinkOptics argues that Nintendo should have known about their patent then there’s no way they can say they didn’t know about the Wii for 7 years. Finally, the stores that sold the system are not responsible for the patent offenses. They already paid money to Nintendo for the right to sell the system. If Nintendo sold those rights without having them it’s their responsibility to pay for them.