Nintendo controller patent violation case revived by appeals court

A US appeals court decided to revive the case against Nintendo Co. for claims that its Wii, Wii U, and Switch controllers violated a data-transmission patent.

A federal judge in Seattle misinterpreted the patent when it concluded that Nintendo's controllers did not infringe on Genuine Enabling Technology LLC's patent, according to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Genuine Enabling Technology (GET) holds a patent for "combining data streams" to reduce computer resource usage.

In 2017, GET filed a lawsuit against Nintendo, alleging that the way its controllers communicate with its videogame systems infringes on the patent.

In 2020, a federal court in Seattle found in favor of Nintendo, interpreting GET's patent to include devices that transmit data signals at greater frequencies than Nintendo's controllers.

On Friday, a three-judge Federal Circuit panel reversed the ruling and remanded the case to the lower court, stating that the lower court misinterpreted GET's patent when clearing Nintendo of the claims.

The appeals court also held that the district court erred in giving too much weight to Nintendo's expert testimony, emphasizing that "intrinsic evidence" should be prioritized when interpreting patents.

To review GET's claims based on the appeals court's reading of the patent term, the Federal Circuit remanded the matter to the lower court.