Nintendo found guilty of intellectual property infringement

When the Nintendo 3DS was released in North America in March 2011, the company touted the handheld gaming device as a breakthrough in 3-D technology. At the time, it appeared there was nothing else like it. After a recent settlement, though, a judge decided that there was.

Last week, a federal judge in New York ruled that Nintendo stole intellectual property by utilizing certain 3-D technology in the Nintendo 3DS. According to court records, the copyright was controlled by a patent owned by Seijiro Tomita, a former Sony employee who originally came up with the ability to view 3-D images on such a screen without the use of specialized glasses.

As a result of the ruling, the video game makers, known for games such as Super Mario Bros. and Pokemon, were ordered to pay $30.2 million to Tomita, who had worked at Sony for 30 years before leaving the company in 2003.

During the trial, Tomita claimed that he had met with Nintendo representatives in August 2003 to discuss the 3-D technology and its possible uses before eventually producing a working model, upon request from the company. After he had given them the prototype and asked for payment, Tomita says he did not hear back from Nintendo. But when the 3DS was released years later, it appeared that the company had used the technology for its own purposes.

"The same employees who attended the demonstration helped to develop the 3DS, and a reasonable jury could find that they would have understood the similarities between the 3DS and the prototype Mr. Tomita had shown them," the judge wrote in the ruling.

Pitching products and new innovations to other companies is a tricky enterprise when intellectual properties are involved. However, by hiring a Phoenix small business attorney, local companies can ensure that their rights are protected.

Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

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