Nintendo Hit with $21 Million Patent Ruling

Nintendo has been ordered to pay Anascape $21 million in a patent infringement case involving controllers for its GameCube and Wii console systems.

A federal jury in an Texas court has found that Nintendo infringed on a patent held by the Tyler, Texas-based company Anascape, and ordered the company to pay Anascape $21 million. The suit, filed in mid-2006, claimed that the controller for Nintendo’s GameCube, as well as the company’s WaveBird and “Wii Classic” controller, infringe on Anascape’s patents. The company also sued Microsoft over the design of its game controllers, but Microsoft settled with the company on May 1, before the trial began, for an undisclosed amount.

A Nintendo spokesperson said the company expects to appeal the decision, and believes it will be able to reduce the size of the jury award by a significant amounts. Nintendo also emphasized the patent infringement ruling had nothing to do with the wireless motion-sensing technology in the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers that ship with the Nintendo Wii console.