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28 April 2016Patents

Nintendo 3DS $30m patent ruling quashed

A US court has overturned a ruling that saw Nintendo fined $30.2 million in a patent infringement dispute centring on 3D technology.

In a decision handed down on Sunday, April 24, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York overturned a ruling that it originally handed down in 2013.

The dispute, between Nintendo and Tomita Technologies, began in 2011 and centred on Nintendo’s 3DS console.

Tomita and its owner Seijiro Tomita claimed the 3DS infringed one of its inventions which protects a way of displaying 3D images without the need for 3D glasses. The patent covering the invention, which Nintendo was deemed to have infringed, was US number 741,766,4 B2.

Tomita allegedly provided a demonstration of the technology to Nintendo officials who then went on to create the 3DS.

In 2013, Nintendo was told to pay the $30.2 million fine, but Judge Jed Rakoff later cut the damages award to $15.1 million.

Despite the damages being slashed Nintendo appealed against the ruling and was granted a retrial.

Rakoff found that the Nintendo 3DS performs in a significantly different way and does more than was contemplated by the Tomita patent.

Ajay Singh, Nintendo’s director of litigation and compliance in the US, said: “We are very pleased with the court’s finding that Nintendo does not infringe.

“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.”

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19 August 2013   A US judge has cut in half a $30.2 million fine handed to Nintendo earlier this year for infringing a former employee’s patent covering 3D image technology.