By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) - Nintendo Co, one of the world's largest makers of video game players, won a U.S. appeals court decision in a patent case that will allow it to keep importing its popular Wii system into the United States.
Monday's decision by the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. affirmed a January 2012 ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which handles many technology patent disputes.
The decision against Motiva LLC, which sued Nintendo in 2008, could make it harder for U.S. companies to halt imports of products that allegedly infringe patents on grounds they want to establish a "domestic industry" for similar products.
In January, in a patent dispute between InterDigital inc and Nokia Oyj over wireless phones, the Federal Circuit said companies could seek such relief when they sought to license products incorporating their patents, even if such products were not being made.
Motiva, which is based in Dublin, Ohio, had claimed that Wii infringed two patents for a system to track a game user's position and body movement.
A three-judge Federal Circuit panel agreed with the ITC that the main impetus behind Motiva's litigation against Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo was to win damages or a settlement, not to license or make products incorporating Motiva's patents.
This panel said Motiva's litigation did not amount to the "significant" or "substantial" investment toward commercializing patented technology that was required under a patent protection law, known as the Tariff Act, that sets limits on imports.
"Motiva's litigation was targeted at financial gains, not at encouraging adoption of Motiva's patented technology," Circuit Judge Sharon Prost wrote. "There is simply no reasonable likelihood that, after successful litigation against Nintendo, Motiva's patented technology would have been licensed by partners who would have incorporated it."
The ITC had also concluded that Nintendo did not infringe the Motiva patents.
Christopher Banys, a lawyer for Motiva, called Monday's decision "unfortunate" but said the case will continue.
"We are confident that Motiva will be vindicated when its case is tried in district court," he said.
Richard Medway, deputy general counsel of Nintendo of America, in a statement said the company is pleased with the Federal Circuit decision.
Wii's major competitors include Sony Corp's PlayStation and Microsoft Corp's Xbox.
The case is Motiva LLC v. International Trade Commission, U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 12-1252.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Andrew Hay and Nick Zieminski)
Blog List
-
Kaley Cuoco Shows Off Fit Physique In Skin-Revealing Yoga Outfit - By Suzy Byrne Kaley Cuoco leaving yoga class in L.A. on Monday. (X17online.com)Kaley Cuoco gave new meaning to hot yoga on Monday when she emerged from cla...11 years ago
Pageviews
Popular Posts
-
A barge carrying 80,000 gallons of oil hit a railroad bridge in Vicksburg, Miss., on Sunday, spilling light crude into the Mississippi River...
-
On Tuesday, National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre criticized President Barack Obama's inaugural address. ...
-
Notification on Timeline The first vist to a friend's timeline prompts us to give a gift, and that "Gifts...
-
As any fan of Doctor Who knows, the title character's ship does some pretty incredible things even when it's not traveling through ...
-
HONOLULU (AP) The Hawaii state Senate passed the so-called Steven Tyler Act Tuesday, a bill that seeks to protect celebrities from overeager...
-
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) An Iowa man's online classified ad offering an oak coffin for sale neglected to mention the full skeleton insi...
-
By Dorene Internicola NEW YORK (Reuters) - Baby boomers, the generation that vowed to stay forever young, are getting older, designing sen...
-
Facebook (FB) -30.3% From IPO Facebook was by far the biggest tech IPO this year, raising $16 billion with its initial public offering, or ...
-
At the current rate that near-Earth asteroids are being detected, it will take astronomers 15 years to identify every one of significant siz...
-
When the evening news anchor said "Big Brother is watching," little Jake thought that meant something totally different. [More fro...