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Court reverses Nintendo controller patent suit

Panel of judges finds that Wii, GameCube gamepads don't infringe upon technology developed by Texas-based Anascape, denying $21 million claim.

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Nintendo's been battling Texas-based Anascape for nearly four years at this point over certain technology that's used in the game company's controllers. In 2008, an Eastern Texas jury found that while Nintendo's console generation-defining Wii Remote and Nunchuk hadn't infringed upon Anascape's patents, the Wii's Classic Controller, as well as the GameCube's WaveBird and standard controllers had.

Anascape's claim on the Classic Controller is no more.
Anascape's claim on the Classic Controller is no more.

The verdict would have cost Nintendo up to $21 million in damages--were the company to lose its appeal. Such will not be the case, as the publisher announced today that the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in its favor. According to the court's decision, the aforementioned controllers did not infringe upon Anascape's US Patent No. 6,906,700, which deals with technologies ranging from analog sensors to tactile feedback.

"In 2008, the jury determined that the Wii Remote and Nunchuk did not infringe," said Nintendo of America general counsel Rick Flamm in a statement. "Today the Federal Circuit's ruling confirmed that none of Nintendo's controllers infringe. We appreciate that our position has been vindicated." Nintendo also emphasized that the Court of Appeals reversed the jury's decision in full.

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