AfterTek

The California-based Interlink, a company that manufacturers remote controls and other devices for business presentations, is suing Nintendo because of an alleged patent violation involving the Wii’s motion-sensitive remote control.

Interlink filed the complaint in the US District Court in Delaware, where their corporation is legally formed, claiming that their 2005 patent for a “Trigger Operated Electronic Device” (US Patent 6,850,221 B1) was violated by the Wiimote.

The patent depicts an image of Interlink’s “Trigger Operated Electronic Device” which looks oddly like a Star Trek: The Next Generation phaser and comes with a couple of buttons on top and a small vertical IR sensor that sits next to a computer monitor. The legal filing does not disclose the exact nature of the infringement, but it does not appear as though the patent covers the kind of full motion sensitivity found in the Wiimote.

Careful reading of the patent itself reveals that the pointer simply acts as a mouse replacement, with the user moving a pressure-sensitive pad around on the remote and the computer tracking this motion as mouse movement through the IR connection.

On the surface, the patent infringement claim sounds ludicrous, especially the claims that the “Plaintiff has suffered damages, including but not limited to, loss of reasonable royalties, reduced sales and/or lost profits as a result of infringing activities.” Hands up who has cancelled their purchase of a business presentation pointer because they just bought a Wii game system.

Still, the results of the Immersion lawsuit against Sony and others shows that video game companies can lose patent lawsuits against companies that do not manufacture video game systems.

So will Nintendo settle with Interlink or fight them? The consequences for losing can be severe, as Sony found out when they lost to Immersion and found themselves holding a bill for over $90 million. We have argued before that this ultimately resulted in the company deciding to remove rumble features from the PlayStation 3 controller rather than pay royalties.

Obviously Nintendo cannot afford to lose the unique features of the Wii’s remote, as the motion sensing ability is the defining feature of the Wii console. Interlink may be banking on Nintendo’s vulnerability with their lawsuit.

Nintendo and Microsoft have both settled lawsuits of this type before the companies both paid a licensing fee to Immersion for the use of “rumble” technology in their video game controllers. Will history repeat itself? We doubt it, this time.