Nintendo has reportedly successfully defeated a lawsuit claiming that its Switch gaming consoles infringed two patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 9,808,713 and 10,391,393.
The action was brought in California by video-game peripheral manufacturer and patentee, Gamevice, back in 2018. The Gamevice patents claim gaming controllers that attach to smartphones and tablets, while Nintendo’s controllers can be used attached to and detached from the Switch console.
U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg held that Nintendo’s controllers “work differently” from the patented technology. The ruling ended Gamevice’s lawsuit before trial, which, according to Reuters, marks their third loss, after the U.S. International Trade Commission rejected two related patent complaints against Nintendo in 2019 and 2021.
Nintendo has reportedly sold nearly 130 million of the consoles since it launched the Switch in 2017.
Authors: Kasia Donovan and Emily Groper, 2023/2024 Articling Student-At-Law
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