Nintendo loses out to Philips in patent lawsuit

Having enjoyed lots of success in the courts in recent years, Nintendo has now lost a major patent battle with Philips.

Bloomberg reports that Judge Colin Birss said a Nintendo unit infringed two Philips patents in a ruling today”, although it was cleared of a third violation.

Added Birss: The common general knowledge did not include a device combining a physical motion sensor with a camera and the reasons advanced by Nintendo for putting those two sensors together in one unit are unconvincing.”

Nintendo, which is also facing legal action from Philips to stop selling the Wii and Wii U in the US, insists that both patents are invalid and says it will appeal the decision.

We believe Nintendo infringed the patents and have tried to settle since 2011, but as that hasn’t worked out we had to take this step,” Philips spokesperson Bjorn Teuwsen said. This case relates to other cases in the U.S., Germany and France. It might help in those cases, but that’s not up to me but to the local authorities in those countries.”

If upheld Nintendo could be forced to stop sales of the device.

"Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others," the company said in a statement.

"Nintendo is 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."