Gamevice Has Levied Another Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Nintendo
A legal battle is about to ensue, but hopefully an amicable resolution is reached.
Nintendo is under the gun with the US International Trade Commission, with another lawsuit in motion against it from accessories maker Gamevice. This time around, Gamevice claims that Nintendo has infringed upon its patents in place with the Nintendo Switch. The issue resides with its patents for detachable controllers that resemble the Switch's iconic Joy-Cons.
According to Gamevice, the Nintendo Switch violates said patents on attachable handheld gamepads and other accessories related to them. As such, Gamevice is seeking a cease and desist order against Nintendo, which would require the cessation of Switch imports into the U.S. As you can imagine, this is bad news for the popular console.
Going forward, the USITC will be holding an evidentiary hearing to determine if Nintendo is indeed violating the Tariff Act, and will announce a date for the end of its investigation within the span of 45 days.
"The products at issue in the investigation are controller systems with parts that attach to two sides of an electronic device, such as a smartphone or tablet, and the parts fit into a user's hands and have gaming controls," says the USITC.
Previously, Gamevice took Nintendo to task over its patents for the Wikipad product, but it ended up dropping that particular lawsuit. It's likely this will all blow over and we can all enjoy our Switches and Gamevices without one infringing on the other, but it's very much a story to keep an eye on.
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replyBrittany Vincent posted a new article, Gamevice Has Levied Another Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Nintendo
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I wonder how old their patent is? I'm pretty sure Nintendo has one that's very similar from when they were developing the Wii U (remember seeing two Wiimotes taped to the sides of a screen as a prototype?)
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Its not a new concept by any stretch. I doubt Wikipad was even the first to do it. The controllers look nothing like in terms of how they attach (i.e. snaped on vs rail) and features. Can the Wikipad controllers be used separately? do they have a gyroscope, ir camera?
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