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Nintendo Defeats Patent Case Involving Wii Balance Board

by yoshiller
19 May 2015
GN Version 5.0

Plaintiff Withdraws Case Following Loss in Germany

REDMOND, Wash., May 19, 2015 – On May 18, 2015, Nintendo defeated a patent case in Seattle federal court. In May 2013, non-practicing entities Ithaca Ventures and Ithaca Development sued Nintendo, alleging that Nintendo’s Wii Balance Board accessory infringed its patent. Nintendo responded by seeking sanctions for filing a meritless case. Ithaca then withdrew its case in Seattle following a finding by a German court that Ithaca’s European patent could not cover the Wii Balance Board and that Ithaca must pay Nintendo’s attorneys’ fees.

“Nintendo will vigorously defend its innovations against patent lawsuits, and will not pay to resolve meritless accusations, no matter whether the case is filed in the United States or elsewhere,” said Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Richard Medway of Nintendo of America.

For more information about Nintendo, visit http://www.nintendo.com.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.3 billion video games and more than 680 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™ and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.com.