In a retrial on April 24, Nintendo was found not guilty of infringement because its 3DS gaming system does not violate an existing patent.
In 2011, Tomita Technologies USA, Inc. and Tomita Technologies International, Inc. sued the company, saying that the Nintendo 3DS system infringed Tomita’s patent on 3D display technology.
The April ruling fully reverses and corrects the 2013 verdict that found the Japanese company guilty of the charges, and thus confirms the 2015 retrial decision.
Ajay Singh, director of litigation and compliance at Nintendo of America, said in a statement the he was extremely happy with the outcome, referring to the judgment passed by New York federal court judge Jed Rakoff.
"Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products, and we aggressively defend patent lawsuits when our products do not infringe, even when we must do it over many years and through multiple trials," he stated.
In 2013, Tomita laid the blame on Nintendo, saying that the idea was planted in Nintendo's mind when it got to see the 3D technology prototype at a 2003 meeting with Tomita. Nintendo's argument was the charge was baseless because that meeting in 2003 was one of the many that developed between the two companies.
Singh further stated that since Nintendo has been known to create innovative products historically, the company takes an aggressive stance whenever it needs to defend patent lawsuits, like it did in this case, to prove its innocence. However, this is definitely not the first time that Nintendo is facing such a lawsuit.
In this instance, the verdict turned in Nintendo's favor as Rakoff found that the 3DS system performed way differently than Tomita's especially when it came to this particular statement of the technology in question - "displaying stereoscopic images on-screen for viewing with the naked eye, i.e., without utilizing glasses or other devices." Nintendo's system reflected a direction of thoughts that was nowhere close to the plaintiffs' original 2008 patent vision.
The judgment further relieved Nintendo from the $30.2 million it was initially supposed to pay by way of damages.
Photo: Minh Hoang | Flickr
