Patent Law

Nintendo loss in ED Texas

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Nintendo Co., the world's biggest maker of handheld game machines, is facing a ban on U.S. sales of some controllers for its Wii and GameCube systems after it lost a bid to overturn a $21 million patent-infringement verdict.

U.S. District Judge Ron Clark in Lufkin, Texas, rejected Nintendo's request for a new trial in the case won by closely held Anascape Ltd. of Tyler, Texas. He said that he would stop sales of the Wii Classic Controller, WaveBird controller and Nintendo GameCube controller. His ban will be put on hold while Nintendo appeals the verdict to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to Anascape lawyer Doug Cawley.

The judge, scheduled to issue his ban order tomorrow, said Nintendo will have to post a bond or put royalties in an escrow account to avoid the halt, said Cawley, of McKool Smith in Dallas. The opinion denying a new trial was issued July 18, the same day as the hearing on Anascape's request for an order blocking sales of products found to infringe its patent.

Full post as published by IPBiz on July 23, 2008 (boomark / email).