In a surprising turn of events, Nintendo has lost a patent suit against iLife. First reported by Glixel (via Rolling Stone), a jury in Dallas, Texas has awarded $10 million to iLife after Nintendo of America was found to have infringed upon iLife’s patented motion-sensing technology by using the tech in its Wii Remotes. Litigation had been ongoing for nearly four years until the verdict was returned around 11:00am yesterday.
In a statement to Glixel, this is what lawyers for iLife had to say on the matter:
“Since 2013, Munck Wilson Mandala has represented iLife. Today’s verdict is the result of our commitment to excellence and an outstanding team effort.”
Of course, Nintendo of America disagrees with the verdict, having this to say:
“Nintendo disagrees with the decision, as Nintendo does not infringe iLife’s patent and the patent is invalid. Nintendo looks forward to raising those issues with the district court and with the court of appeals.”
iLife had originally filed a $144 million patent infringement lawsuit against Nintendo, seeking a $4 per-unit royalty payment tied to 36 million Wii systems sold (at the time of the lawsuit being filed), but it seems the jury felt a $10 million payment was sufficient.
The supposed infringed-upon technology is what iLife uses to monitor infants to avoid sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and to monitor falls for the elderly; iLife claims that Nintendo used this technology in their Wii Remotes. However, Nintendo argued that iLife’s patent for the technology wasn’t properly written and is therefore invalid.
