Nintendo Wii faces new patent investigation

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WASHINGTON: A U.S. trade agency has said it will investigate Nintendo, the maker of the top-selling Wii video-game console, to determine whether the player infringes a Maryland electronics laboratory's patents for motion-control technology.
The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington said Wednesday that it would examine whether the Wii system and accompanying remote controls violate patents owned by Hillcrest Laboratories. If a violation is found, the agency can block imports of the Wii. An investigation typically takes about 15 months.
“By instituting this investigation, the ITC has not yet made any decision on the merits of the case,” the agency said in a statement announcing the review. Nintendo said it would fight the claims.
Three of the Hillcrest patents are for motion-control technology and a fourth is for graphical interface software used on the television. Nintendo, based in Kyoto, Japan, makes the Wii player, allowing users to simulate games by swinging a motion-sensing controller like a bat, tennis racket or other item.
Nintendo said it had not yet had a chance to respond to the allegations.
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“After a judge is assigned to preside over the investigation, Nintendo will have the opportunity to present its case,” a Nintendo of America spokesman, Charlie Scibetta, said in a statement. “Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, and believes that none of its products infringes the Hillcrest Laboratories patents.”
Hillcrest said it had no comment beyond its Aug. 20 statement announcing the complaint.
Hillcrest, based in Rockville, Maryland, said it licensed its motion-control technology, called Freespace, to Logitech International, Universal Electronics and other companies. The graphic interface technology, called Home, is licensed to companies that Hillcrest declined to name.
Hillcrest also had filed a lawsuit against Nintendo seeking cash. That case is likely to be put on hold while the ITC case proceeds.
The Wii is the best-selling game console in the United States, with 453,000 units sold during the month of August alone. Nintendo said the Wii accounts for 49 percent of the console market, citing the researcher NPD Group.
Nintendo has had other patent-infringement complaints filed against it as the Wii gained popularity. The company is facing a ban on the Wii Classic controller, which is sold separately from the Wii system, unless it can persuade an appeals court to overturn a $21 million verdict won by Anascape of Tyler, Texas.
Lawsuits over the Wii or Nintendo's other products are pending in federal courts in Texas, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Wilmington, Delaware.
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