Nintendo Sued for Patent Infringement

Interlink Electronics is a company which designs "human interface" products, mainly for business presentations. It is one of their products, a pointer called RemotePoint has caused a stir between the companies. The problem is, Interlink Electronics Inc. think that the trigger button (B) on the bottom of the Wii remote infringes a patent filed by the company for their RemotePoint pointer.

Patent number 6,850,221 "Trigger Operated Electronic Device" describes a device, which, although similar to the Wiimote in some ways, does not bear any large resemblance to Nintendo's Product. Infact, the only real similarities are the trigger button, and the pointing function. Although it is of a similar shape, and works in a similar way, surely Nintendo's Wii remote could not possibly interfere with the profits of Interlink.

However, Interlink Electronics are still going ahead with the lawsuit, claiming that Nintendo's Wiimote has caused "loss of reasonable royalties, reduced sales and/or lost profits as a result of the infringing activities".

If Interlink Electronics does win the lawsuit (which, honestly, looks rather doubtful) they will undoubtedly ask Nintendo to take their Wii console off the market. This is a rather ridiculous, but dangerous (for Nintendo, at least) legal battle between the two companies.