WeeWorld tries to drop Wii suit

WeeMee maker files motion to dismiss its legal action against Nintendo, but game publisher objects.

This is a WeeMee...

A company accusing Nintendo of swiping the name for the Wii's Mii Channel from its own digital avatar service is trying to drop its lawsuit against the gamemaker. The only snag is that Nintendo doesn't want it to drop the suit.

Last November, WeeWorld filed suit against Nintendo, alleging that the gamemaker's Mii avatars on its then-unreleased Wii system infringed on trademarks for its own WeeMees, digital avatars it claims to have offered online since 2001.

Currently featured on AOL Instant Messanger, WeeMees give users a simple tool for creating their own custom cartoon-styled avatars. In addition to choosing eye color, hair style, and clothing, users can outfit their WeeMees with accessories to indicate their interests. A number of gaming systems are included in the possible accessories, from an Xbox 360 to a PlayStation Portable. Users can also equip their WeeMees with what appears to be a Nintendo DS Lite (click on picture above), but there is no Wii option at the moment.

Nintendo originally defended itself in the suit, saying that its use of homonyms for common words like "me" and "we" constituted fair use under trademark laws. It has also alleged that WeeWorld didn't use the WeeMee name in the US until after Nintendo had announced its system and Mii Channel, and that WeeWorld can't prove the likelihood of consumer confusion arising out of the products' similar names.

...and this is a Wii Mii.

The legal battle simmered until last month, when WeeWorld asked the judge in the case to dismiss the suit without prejudice, which would leave the door open for future litigation on the subject. Calling the case "unquestionably in its infant stages" with no depositions taken, motions for judgment made, or trial date set, WeeWorld said it wanted to see the dispute played out overseas first.

"With most of its current business in the United Kingdom, WeeWorld recently decided that it should use its limited resources to first seek relief in the United Kingdom," the company said in its motion to dismiss the case.

Last week, Nintendo filed its objection to WeeWorld's motion. The gamemaker feels there is no possibility of confusion between the names, and said it's entitled to a dismissal of the suit with prejudice, which would prevent WeeWorld from picking up the claims against Nintendo in the future.

"[I]n the face of disclosure obligations and discovery demands targeted at getting to the bottom of its unsupported claims of 'confusion' and damage, WeeWorld has abruptly asked this Court to let it dismiss this case without prejudice," Nintendo's response reads, "freeing it from having to reveal the lack of substance to its claims, while allowing it to hold over Nintendo the threat of future US litigation if it is unsuccessful pursuing those claims in European courts, as it now intends."

Even if the matter is dismissed without prejudice, Nintendo said WeeWorld should be made to pay its legal fees, as it estimated that it had already spent around $400,000 investigating the claims and preparing its defense.

212 Comments

  • neo16161616

    Posted Apr 1, 2007 7:06 am PT

    I would rather have a Mii

  • theKSMM

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 8:56 pm PT

    Was this a direct rip? Probably not, but it is possible that somebody in Nintendo's organization heard about this in passing, stored it in his subconscious for a few years, and then spit it back out when the Miis were created.

    Of course, I suppose there are only so many variants you can come up with for "we" and "me." Collisions probably start happening pretty quickly over such simple words.

  • collinsworth

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 2:41 pm PT

    Nintendo Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    man this is the funniest thing i have read all day. whoop that ass Nintendo, send a message with there court costs

  • NWA_31

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 12:45 pm PT

    No turning back, now huh ? That's why you don't mess with Nintendo...

  • SephirothSyZtem

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 12:01 pm PT

    Gotta love that money.

  • Mugen76

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 11:58 am PT

    Everybody seems to be suing Nintendo right now. They're all just jealous that Nintendo makes the stuff work and they can't.

  • jsloane

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 10:30 am PT

    wow i hadnt heard of WeeWorld until after the Wii and thought it was a shameless rip off. Nintendo will crush them.

  • NeleNel

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 7:30 am PT

    That's why you dont mess with someone who names their system WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • teh_leeto

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 7:12 am PT

    ouch, mario at his meanest haha. Makes sense though that nintendo would want dismissal w/ predjudice seeing how much money they've spent already

  • spelledarn

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 6:10 am PT

    Not a nintendo fan since the last two consoles, but I sincerely hope the Big N crushes this frivolous lawsuit. ^_^

  • KevComesRipping

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 5:08 am PT

    Do WeeMee's cost anything? If not I'm gonna make one right now for my avatar so I can make irony with my love for Wii product.

  • metdevthegamer

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 3:29 am PT

    No mercy, Nintendo.

  • Mr_Saturn26

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 2:57 am PT

    i would think nintendo would know how to defend them self after all the times nintendo been in court. WeeWorld should lose big time, its a crock of bull. maybe franch should sue nintendo for the french word for yes. oh no, im getting confused between weemees and wiimiis, ahh just kidn, its still a crock of bull

  • GrgSpunk

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:15 pm PT

    You got yourself in this mess, WeeWorld. Don't expect to get out of it without a clear-cut conclusion.

  • robfield

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 8:04 pm PT

    Hecks yeah Nintendo, do let them get you

  • lebanese_boy

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 7:56 pm PT

    Nintendo sure know how to defend itself

  • Wing0X

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 7:34 pm PT

    good for nintendo in not letting companies like this, try and make a quick buck!

  • minime78362

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 5:57 pm PT

    Owned.

  • 1357900

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 5:35 pm PT

    This is funny, and a bit ridiculous! Nintendo takes action! I, too would say,"You take me to court, and then drop out?! As Superman said in Justice League,"Then all bets are off, YOU'RE MINE!", yeah.. I would do that if my losses were substantial, and/or the company suing me, were merely backing down, just to keep a lawsuit shadow over my head, as they{WEEMEE} appear to be doing now.

  • marioman50

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 4:50 pm PT

    do not mess with nintendo or I'll BITE YOUR HEAD OFFF, YA HEA??!

  • Imconfused2007

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 4:07 pm PT

    Go nintendo. Maybe beating these guys will teach other companies not to bring frivolous lawsuits.

  • wavebrid

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 4:01 pm PT

    dsico_basic towrds your comment. nintendo lost a couple of lawsuits though that was the newsest one. just beacuse they loose one dosent mean there loose another.

    http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/oddities/nintendosuits.html

    check link

  • Cainekass29

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 3:55 pm PT

    I would do the same if I was in charge of Nintendo. Take me to court, and then try to get rid of the case when you realize you don't have a leg to stand on??? I am going to now destory you muwhahahahaha

  • lzorro

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 3:47 pm PT

    I don't know why but I laughed

  • Sacif

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 3:41 pm PT

    blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I hate legal bs. Basically one person wants money and the other doesn't want to give it.

  • gibsongirl

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 2:55 pm PT

    this makes me tired.

  • Shifty_Pete

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 2:35 pm PT

    Kakua_Omari wrote:

    Who in their right mind would confuse weemee (which honestly sounds stupid) with mii? its a load of bull, just some company trying to get noticed.
    Yeah! WeeMee and Wii Mii sound totally... uh, the same. But at least they're different products--one's a customizable avatar and the other's a... oh, yeah.

    What was your point again?

  • Wiifanboy_4life

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 2:11 pm PT

    I love Nintendo, but I think they made the wrong move here. They could have walked away un-scarred, but they chose to fight instead? Oh well, I'm sure they can pull through, but still...

  • rokkuman09

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 2:05 pm PT

    Can you saw pwnd? That is the only way to describe this situation. It's just hilarious, they want to drop the suit and Nintendo is like "no way screw you!". Haha this is awesome go Nintendo!

  • TacoJelly

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 1:54 pm PT

    Don't try and fight Nintendo in court. Ever since the big battle in the 80's where Nintendo had to define the differences in the way it rendered graphics, they've been covering their a$$. Nintendo has a patent on these kinds of avatars and they got the money to defend the similarity in the names.

  • 1SleepyGit

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 1:49 pm PT

    Hmm, I can see from WeeMee's point of view how it can be an infringement, but I can also see from Nintendo's point of view how the whole avatar/use of words things is not copyright infringement (otherwise most MMOs would have to settle with the original MMO that used avatars in the first place). I can also see why Nintendo would want to settle the matter without the threat of future lawsuits hanging over their heads, but I can also see why a small company would want to sort out issues on one front before fighting another costly battle on another, especially if they can hardly afford to fight on more than one front. Yet again the only people who will always benefit from this are the lawyers, no matter which side they are on...

  • kirbykook

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 1:49 pm PT

    I never knew what a weemee was until today...
    Proof?

  • Irve

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 1:44 pm PT

    See , being in the uk as soon as i saw the Mii all i could think was .. Wow ... they've ripped of the weemee ... only it's not as good. However Nintendo have taken it to the next level by having you use your Wii Mii in their games ...

  • Kakua_Omari

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 1:35 pm PT

    Who in their right mind would confuse weemee (which honestly sounds stupid) with mii? its a load of bull, just some company trying to get noticed.

  • W_Claiborne

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 1:21 pm PT

    Haha Nindendo rocks! "You want to fight? Then we finish it 'till the end."

  • gerardinsito

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 12:53 pm PT

    The Miis doesn't look cartooned... I think it's just the same thing as with the Wii-mote problem...

  • Jofulikestofu

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 12:37 pm PT

    The verdict is in!!!!! In the judges own words: "BFD"

  • Slayer420

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 12:25 pm PT

    I can see both sides of this. WeeMee has been around supposedly since 2001, much longer then the Wii for sure.. but N has a point that nobody is going to confuse the two services here. Kind of hard for me to really care how this one plays out to be honest.

  • BobbyBobby85

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:52 am PT

    Who'd want to look like a South Park Character anyways?

  • nobeaner

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:40 am PT

    Ouch. 400 large. Nintendo sure knows how to defend itself with lawyers. They took a good lesson from what happened to Atari.

  • Dico_basic

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:35 am PT

    Some people have short memories. Nintendo lost the lawsuit against sony for robbing the playstation so they're hardly invincible.

  • ScionofEntropy

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:20 am PT

    A groundless claim, Gribb85. That said, WeeWorld's lawsuit is equally groundless, considering evidence against their claims is in surplus.

  • Gribb85

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:13 am PT

    Kinda goes against the whole caring nintendo innovation thing they are always talking about. Old habits die hard, nintendo has always gone out of its way to be ruthless in the business sense. Seems as though nothing has changed.

  • lorenzojr78

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:11 am PT

    kill em nintendo! aaarggggggg!!!! im all riled up!!! those wiimiis look like a rip off of south park....NINTENDO RULES!!!!!

  • icemancell

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 11:00 am PT

    awww cmon nintendo, dun be like sony and be a prick

  • AL13NK1LL3R

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 10:40 am PT

    yup.. i never seen nintendo lose a law suit

    frostybubbler

    One thing I've realized from Nintendo over the years...they know how to cover their asses well. They have a super smart legal department. Disclaimers are all over the place, anyone who stands in their way and tries to sue usually gets squashed. It's interesting actually..

  • frostybubbler

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 10:06 am PT

    One thing I've realized from Nintendo over the years...they know how to cover their asses well. They have a super smart legal department. Disclaimers are all over the place, anyone who stands in their way and tries to sue usually gets squashed. It's interesting actually...

  • RetroGameFanCom

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 10:05 am PT

    Go Nintendo! Get em!

  • homsuplo75

    Posted Mar 21, 2007 10:03 am PT

    Sucks for those weeworld folks... should have thought this one through.

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