Nintendo have lost a court case in the UK this week against electronics giant, Philips. The court ruled in favour of Philips, who have been pursuing damages for years after they filed a lawsuit, claiming the famously innovative Nintendo infringed upon several of it’s technology patents.
Judge Colin Birss stated that Nintendo Wii and Wii U hardware breached two of the reported Philips patents in the ruling yesterday, both involving hand and motion recognition. He did, however, call the third accusation into question and overall asserted that the gaming conglomerate did not violate Philips’ patent regarding virtual environment body modelling.
It is unclear for now what penalties Nintendo face following the ruling, however they hope to appeal the decision believing the patents to be invalid. The company issued a statement following the hearing assuring it’s long devoted community that the ruling would have as little impact upon sales as possible,
“Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others. [We are] committed to ensuring that this judgment does not affect continued sales of its highly acclaimed line of video game hardware, software and accessories and will actively pursue all such legitimate steps as are necessary to avoid any interruptions to its business.”
Outside of the UK, Philips have also filed a lawsuit against Nintendo of America claiming an infringement of two further patents; the first involving real life actions within a game, and the second regarding pointed device input systems. It has been made clear that in this case Philips seek to halt all sales of the Wii U as well as claim damages.
Birss intends to issue an final order on damages in next month.