Nintendo Sued by Peripheral Maker Alleging Switch Design Infringes Patents

Megalith

Megalith

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Gamevice, a peripheral maker that produces controller attachments for the iPad, is suing Nintendo (again) for allegedly stealing their ideas. The company, which holds patents for affixing joystick controllers to opposite sides of a mobile device, wants Switch consoles blocked from the country.

…though Nintendo frequently is sued for patent infringement, this doesn’t seem to resemble a “patent troll” case. Gamevice is suing over devices it manufactures, not merely designs it holds. Also, a large number of so-called “patent troll” cases have been filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, though a recent Supreme Court ruling seeks to put a stop to that.
 
Gamevice didn’t even do this first, and their controller are a clamp around the entire mobile device. Nintendo uses a completely different system of attaching the controllers directly to the screen. This won’t go anywhere, even though Gamevice May think they own a patent on using controllers with a mobile device.
 
The fact that it wants the insanely popular Nintendo Switch from even being sold in the country tells me this is both someone who holds a personal grudge against Nintendo and is a troll (based on what court district they chose).
 
It's stupid. They make controllers for people to attach to their mobile devices... Nintendo doesn't do that.. It's a device that is built in to the Nintendo Switch, not designed for general use on all mobile devices.

It's just way too generalized.. It's like using patents as a way to be a monopoly, plus to keep other devices completely off the market that don't even compete directly with them.
 
Their controller layout is derivative(period). I'm not saying it isn't a nice concept. Just that it's not at all new. Just about ANY modern console company could sue them for blatantly stealing the dual thumbsticks, D-pad and XYAB button layout, if they think they have grounds to sue Nintendo based on the (boiled down) fact that their controllers attach to the side of the device. And as Nintendo's can also be used as two seperate controllers operating in an identical manner with one another? Yeah. Shoot the trolls and keep on moving!
 
Seems to me that we're running to the end of a road when it comes to patents in manufacturing. Probably have a less than a century before its totally unenforceable due to how easily accessible the tech to reverse engineer and reproduce. Not to mention the fact that many basic ideas are simply reaching a common sense approach to solutions. A hundred years ago when industrial manufacturing was very limited it was easy to spot stolen ideas. Now globally many are doing the same thing and it's not necessarily needed to reinvent the wheel with each problem. Eventually I see business models based on regional enforcement similar to that Asrock GPU story earlier this week or simply using local companies that can produce or assemble the quickest/comparable/affordable equivalents.

More the point of this story. When most tablet games put the virtual controls on the sides of the screens it was only a matter of time until someone decided to make physical counterparts. Kind of surprised madcatz hasn't already pounced on this yet.
 
Don't read more into this than is necessary. Demanding that sales be halted in a country that the patents are applicable to is standard fare for these types of cases.

I fail to see anything that will end in Nintendo being punished. These courts, however foolish they once were, are quickly adapting to the schemes of patent trolls abusing their system.
 
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