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...10 years ago
Pageviews
33,984
Popular Posts
-
In a news conference today (Dec. 21), National Rifle Association Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre blamed ...
-
Mashable's Anita Li contributed to this report from Toronto. Research in Motion , maker of the once-treasured but now beleaguered BlackB...
-
HONOLULU (AP) The Hawaii state Senate passed the so-called Steven Tyler Act Tuesday, a bill that seeks to protect celebrities from overeager...
-
Tonight Doctor Who fans get to gorge on their annual Christmas fix -- a full-length special episode the series has produced every year for ...
-
1. Eiffel Tower - Paris, France When Apple Maps launched in September, there was a funny picture of the Eiffel Tower looki...
-
For iPhone users, Google Maps is back. The revamped app, launched last week , is being downloaded in the tens of millions . As a resu...
-
As any fan of Doctor Who knows, the title character's ship does some pretty incredible things even when it's not traveling through ...
-
A jury in California has determined that Best Buy ( BBY ) must pay $22 million in damages for improper use of another companys trade secre...
-
Nintendo Wii U I remember it still people flipped out about the Nintendo ( NTDOY ) Wii . Yes, its name was mocked for a while, but there wa...
-
SINGAPORE (AP) A young Indian woman who was gang-raped and severely beaten on a bus died Saturday at a Singapore hospital, after her horri...