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Nintendo Obtains IA Labs' Patents After Winning Lawsuit
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Nintendo acquired the patent portfolio from IA Labs, a company that previously sued Nintendo and lost, during a sheriff's sale in Montgomery County, Maryland on Tuesday. After IA Labs lost the lawsuit against Nintendo, it was ordered to pay the game company's legal fees. When IA Labs was unable to do so, its properties were put up to cover the cost.
IA Labs alleged that Nintendo's Wii Fit, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Balance Board, Wii Remote, Wii Nunchuk, Wii MotionPlus, Wii Wheel, and Wii Zapper infringed on patents IA Labs acquired from Interaction Labs in 2009. The patents were filed by Interaction Labs in 2006, for "Computer Interactive Isometric Exercise System and Method for Operatively Interconnecting the Exercise System to a Computer System for use as a Peripheral," and in 2008, for "Force Measurement System for an Isometric Exercise Device." Interaction Labs released several devices based on its patents that won Innovation of the Year awards at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2005 and 2006.
Former Interaction Labs president and later IA Labs chief technology officer Greg Merril previously contacted Nintendo about licensing the technology. IA Labs filed the suit in 2010 and ultimately, the courts ruled in favor of Nintendo in the lawsuit in 2012 and subsequent appeal last year.
Nintendo previously won an appeal in the lawsuit filed by Ohio-based company Motiva over claims that the Wiimote infringed on the company's patent last year. Nintendo lost a separate patent lawsuit in March 2013, where U.S. Federal Court found in favor of former Sony Corporation employee and inventor Seijiro Tomita on his patent for 3D technology.
