Patent Lawsuit Filed Against Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS has managed to work its way to becoming one of the more popular handhelds on the market today. They have fought hard and little by little have been dominating the handheld gaming war. But it seems as if all that glory is about to be taken away in one swift move due to some serious problems. Rumor has it that Nintendo does not have a patent for the technology that is used to create the DS.
John R. Martin said that he owns the patent for the touch screen technology used on the DS and he has allegedly filed a complaint. The patent was updated in August of 2005 six months after Nintendo released the DS. Reports show that it was first filed in 1995.
The patent covers the key input ingredient of Nintendo’s popular handheld, citing “an improved method of operating a touch screen on a CRT or ICD computer screen [that] uses finger release as input registering” in “an electronic game device system [which] is switchable between an amusement mode and a gaming or gambling mode and is useful for vehicles such as airplanes or boats…”
Nintendo has stated that there is no connection and has requested that the suit be dismissed. Oddly enough this isn’t the first time that Nintendo has run into patent infringement problems. Earlier this year Nintendo had to give $21 million to Anascape because of their new game controllers. It’ll be interesting to see what happens this time. Will this affect the great sales that Nintendo has been enjoying for months?
