Nintendo "disagrees" with $10m lawsuit verdict
Texas jury rules that platform holder's best-selling Wii console infringes on iLife's patents
A US court has awarded $10m to tech company iLife after it filed a lawsuit against Nintendo - but the Switch manufacturer plans to appeal the decision.
iLife Technologies and Dallas-based law firm Munck Wilson Mandala accused Nintendo of infringing on the former's patents back in 2013. They alleged that the motion-sensing tech in Wii Remotes was the same as iLife's monitors for infants (in order to prevent sudden infant death syndrom) and elderly people (to alert help if they should fall).
The two firms originally sought $144m in damages, based on $4 per unit of the 36m Wii systems sold before the case was filed. Glixel reports a Dallas jury has now ruled in their favour, awarding $10m to iLife.
Nintendo defended itself throughout the case, arguing that iLife's patents were invalid because the written description wasn't specific enough to cover Nintendo's own use of the technology. Following the verdict, the platform holder maintains this stance and plans to take further action.
"Nintendo disagrees with the decision, as Nintendo does not infringe iLife's patent and the patent is invalid," the company said in a statement. "Nintendo looks forward to raising those issues with the district court and with the court of appeals."
The platform holder has often found itself accused of infringing patents with its controllers, most notably around the Wii given its phenomenal success. Nintendo has already triumphed in such cases against the likes of Triton and Impulse Technology.
However, even its most recent device - the Nintendo Switch - faces allegations from a peripherals manufacturer, with a fresh lawsuit filed earlier this month.