Posts tagged Lawsuit at Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Posts with tag lawsuit

Some Nintendo controllers could get yanked from store shelves

Posted Jul 22nd 2008 6:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News, Peripherals

Remember that recent lawsuit that didn't work out in Nintendo's favor? Then they tried to appeal and failed? Yeah, things aren't looking so hot for Nintendo right now. And the latest on this debacle, courtesy of Bloomberg, doesn't look good for the house that Mario built.

U.S. District Judge Ron Clark denied Nintendo's appeal for a new trial. In Lufkin, Texas, Clark said that he planned to ban further sales of Nintendo's Wii Classic Controller, WaveBird controller and Nintendo GameCube, but must wait for another appeal from Nintendo (this one is headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit) to go through. Judge Clark is set to issue this ban tomorrow, unless Nintendo posts a bond or puts royalties into an escrow account, which will then stop the ban.

Thankfully for Nintendo, the Wiimote and Nunchuk controllers both have been recognized as not violating Anascape's patent. So, sales of each of these peripherals should not be affected by all of this.

MTV fires back on Konami's lawsuit

Posted Jul 14th 2008 1:15PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News

Following Konami's lawsuit, MTV had a couple of things to say. Mainly, they're surprised. "Konami's actions are extremely surprising," an MTV spokesperson said of the suit. See? They're pretty surprised.

"Unfortunately, successful products such as 'Rock Band' can often become targets for baseless litigation. We have substantial defenses to this claim and intend to vigorously defend it," the spokesperson further added. So, what does this mean? Don't expect this to be the last you hear about the battle between the two.

[Via Next-Gen.biz]

Konami none too pleased with Rock Band, files patent suit

Posted Jul 11th 2008 12:30PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News

Konami is pretty upset. They recently filed a patent suit against Harmonix, MTV and their parent company, Viacom. Apparently, a little game called Rock Band (you've probably never heard of it) violated patents Konami had filed in 2002 and 2003. The suit seeks to block Harmonix from using Konami's "inventions" and also get compensation in the form of lots of money from the company. With Konami having introduced GuitarFreaks (a game utilizing a guitar controller) to Japanese arcades nearly a decade ago, it seems likely that this is what it's all about.

Gallery: Rock Band

[Via Joystiq]

Court denies Nintendo's appeal in patent infringement lawsuit

Posted Jun 30th 2008 4:15PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

Nintendo is officially down $21 million.

After a recent court ruling that declared Nintendo the loser in a patent infringement case, Nintendo appealed the $21 million penalty sum, hoping to have the charge reduced. Anascape Ltd. was the plaintiff in the case (and potential receiver of large amounts of cash), claiming that Nintendo violated their patents when making the GameCube, Classic, Wavebird, and Wiimote controllers.

A judge denied Nintendo's appeal, finding that the sum was fair based on the evidence. Anascape, obviously, was happy about the outcome, with the lead council saying, "We appreciate the Court's thoughtful consideration in upholding the jury's decision. Although not a giant corporation like Nintendo, Anascape has every right to protect its technology."

Since the patent affects all of Nintendo's most recent controllers, we wonder if this will have any impact on Nintendo's future designs or technologies.

Song used in GameCube commercial spurs lawsuit

Posted Jun 25th 2008 2:45PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

Another day, another lawsuit.

This time, the big N is the one under the legal knife -- or was, since the plaintiff dropped the case a week after filing it for currently unknown reasons. Filed on June 12th and dropped on June 18th, Morgan Creek Productions felt that Nintendo's use of a song in a Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door commercial violated copyright laws, as the song was used without proper authorization.

The tune in question is "You're So Cool" by Hans Zimmer, which appeared in the film True Romance. The complaint cites that Nintendo played the commercial "sometime within the past three years," which isn't very specific. This could be one possible reason why the suit was dropped, unless the companies happened to reach a quick, under-the-table settlement.

In any case, you can watch the "offending" commercial above.

[Via Game Politics]

Mario Puzo's son sues Paramount over The Godfather game

Posted Jun 19th 2008 3:30PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News

With the news that a second The Godfather game is in the works, Mario Puzo's son, Anthony, is none too pleased with the first game. We can only imagine how he feels about a sequel, considering he's suing Paramount over promised royalties from the first game, which were apparently never paid to the Puzo estate. The family is calling for $1 million in damages.

This stems back to 1992, where Paramount agreed to give the Puzos a share of revenues resulting from any subsequent audio-visual products based on the films.

[Via Joystiq]

Nintendo sues Nyko over Kama Wireless Nunchuck

Posted Jun 13th 2008 10:15AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

That Kama Wireless Nunchuck we're giving away may become something of a collector's item in the near future. Nintendo has sued Nyko, manufacturer of the device, claiming that the Kama violates Nintendo's patents for the original Nunchuk, imitating the controller in "novel shape, design, overall appearance and even the color and materials used in the Nintendo Nunchuk controller."

Nyko spokesperson C.C. Swiney told Bloomberg that they do not believe that they have violated Nintendo's patents with the Kama, but that they are "still examining this." We've had a look at both controllers ourselves, and we think they're actually pretty different. If you look closely at the Nintendo Nunchuk, you can see that it has a cord coming out of it.

Could Nintendo have their own wireless Nunchuk on the way? Or have they decided to start cracking down on third-party controllers now after over 20 years for some other reason? Is the Kama really that similar to the Nunchuk?

[Via Kotaku]

Activision settles Guitar Hero III class action suit

Posted Apr 8th 2008 11:15AM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

Activision has been dealing with the anger of Guitar Hero III owners, which culminated four months ago in a class action lawsuit. The plaintiff, Sam Livingston, filed the suit against Activision because of the company's "deceptive" conduct regarding the lack of Dolby Pro Logic II.

Instead of letting the case get to court, though, Activision decided to offer a settlement. The amount of cash that exchanged hands in the deal was not made public, but we bet a check will be more satisfying than a complimentary faceplate. Oh, and speaking of those? They were actually less of an act of kindness on Activision's part, and more of a required legal stipulation from the settlement.

Even though Activision probably lost a whole lot of pennies in order to settle, we're sure the company is happy that there's now one less lawsuit to worry about this year.

[Via Game|Life]

Nintendo's gonna sue somebody [update]

Posted Feb 12th 2008 9:45AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

Whoever's been leaking Nintendo's information, stop it. You know who you are. All ten of you. Now just 'fess up and take your punishment.

That's apparently what Nintendo of America is hoping for, though in somewhat harsher terms. They've filed a lawsuit in Washington State against ten John Does for "misappropriation of trade secrets." The suit claims that these ten cloak-and-dagger types "obtained proprietary and confidential trade secrets and disclosed them to the public."

By filing this lawsuit, Nintendo can now subpoena the individuals "named" and legally compel them to come forward, as well as receive statements from other nearby parties. We think.

We have no idea what information Nintendo is so worried about. We certainly haven't seen any particularly juicy rumors about the company in a while. Plenty of stuff about third parties, but nothing about Nintendo, much less anything worth suing over.

[Update: the Seattle Stranger "Slog" has posted a suggestion that the Super Smash Bros. Brawl manual leak is what Nintendo's so upset about. Is that all? Thanks to stinkbug for alerting us to the update!]

Former Midway employee created Wii back in 1990, apparently [update]

Posted Jan 15th 2008 7:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Video

Nintendo doesn't seem to be able to shake these lawsuits lately. Or, maybe the Wii is just an unlucky system to put product on? Well, what's a lawsuit here and there when the console is earning so much cash, right?

And, meet the latest. It's a former Midway employee by the name of Pat Goschy. What's his beef? He says Nintendo is breaking a patent he has held on to for 8 years, which involves, you guessed it, motion controls. And Goschy apparently has proof, in the form of the embedded video above.

Update: Turns out we may have jumped the gun on this one. Goschy isn't suing ... yet.

[Via Joystiq]

Nintendo sued over alleged copyright infringement, Wiimote and nunchuk named

Posted Jan 11th 2008 7:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News

A Pennsylvania (I had nothing to do with it) company is filing a lawsuit against Nintendo (and Sony) for apparently violating its patent for a "hand held computer input apparatus and method." On the Nintendo side of things, the report mentioned both the Wiimote and nunchuk, and was filed last month in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Just another day at the office for Nintendo.

Copper Innovations Group is looking to be awarded damages, plus interest and legal fees. They're also seeking an injunction which would permanently prohibit Nintendo, Sony and their agents (third-party manufacturers) from infringing upon the patent in the future. That means, no more Wiimotes and nunchuks. It's a sad future we're hoping we never have to live through.

Head past the break for a picture of the device Copper Innovations Group is saying that Nintendo copied.

Continue reading Nintendo sued over alleged copyright infringement, Wiimote and nunchuk named

Activision sued over sound issues in GHIII

Posted Dec 12th 2007 7:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

We recently reported that Activision would be issuing re-mastered Guitar Hero III discs to fix the lack of stereo and surround sound in the game. For some people, however, this fix is seen as too little, too late, and now the company faces a class-action lawsuit.

The complaint, brought about by plaintiff Sam Livingston, states that Activision's conduct has been "deceptive" and "unlawful" because the game is not compatible with Dolby Pro Logic II, thereby counteracting the label on the game's box. Those behind the complaint feel that Activision needs to pay up for misrepresenting their product, and for continuing to sell the Wii version of the game without warning consumers about the sound issues. The aggregate claims of the plaintiff and the members of the class-action suit amount to $5,000,000, to which we can only say, ouch.

Activision refused to comment on the lawsuit, but did state that they were actively working to have the re-mastered discs ready by early 2008, which will be available to owners of the game at no cost.

[Via Game|Life]

And now ... the Wiimote lawsuit

Posted Dec 21st 2006 5:10PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News

Just when you thought the story couldn't get any sillier, some fools are suing Nintendo over the Wiimote straps. Get ready for a lot of articles wherein people speculate about 32 different definitions of liability. Meanwhile, we'll be over here playing Wii without slinging the remotes around all willy-nilly. We'll have to see how this one pans out, though; these lawsuits often bear fruit, despite seeming a little nutty to the rest of us.

Nintendo's people didn't mince words in their response: "We believe the lawsuit to be completely without merit." Not a lot of room for doubt there, and we're certainly on their side, and not only because they're, y'know, the precious. Mostly because we think it's all a little insane to blame others because you were wearing baby oil gloves. We do have to wonder, however ... what if Sony had kept their boomerang controllers for the PS3? Those things could kill a man!

On a side note, thanks to Penny Arcade for providing the perfect image for the Wii strap debacle.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

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Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Some Nintendo controllers could get yanked from store shelves

MTV fires back on Konami's lawsuit

Konami none too pleased with Rock Band, files patent suit

Court denies Nintendo's appeal in patent infringement lawsuit

Song used in GameCube commercial spurs lawsuit

Mario Puzo's son sues Paramount over The Godfather game

Nintendo sues Nyko over Kama Wireless Nunchuck

Activision settles Guitar Hero III class action suit

Nintendo's gonna sue somebody [update]

Former Midway employee created Wii back in 1990, apparently [update]

Nintendo sued over alleged copyright infringement, Wiimote and nunchuk named

Activision sued over sound issues in GHIII

And now ... the Wiimote lawsuit

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