Nintendo Loses Wii Remote Patent Lawsuit, Jury Awards iLife $10M Settlement

Nintendo has been fighting a legal battle in Texas against a company called iLife since 2013. The patent infringement case brought forth by iLife involves Nintendo's use of its patented technology in the Wii controller. When iLife originally filed a patent on the tech, the company had no thought of using the technology in video games.

iLife originally devised its technology to detect when the elderly people had fallen and to monitor babies to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The suit sought a massive $144 million in damages, working out to $4 for every Wii game system sold. Nintendo sold about 36 million Wiis.

iLife also wanted an injunction that would prevent Nintendo from using its tech in the future. Nintendo has now lost that suit in court, but the jury didn't award the massive amount of money iLife hoped for; Nintendo has been ordered to pay $10 million in the case. Nintendo still maintains that it didn't infringe on the patent and says that the patent was so improperly written as to be invalid. The gaming company has vowed to appeal the ruling and continue to fight the case.

iLife also filed a similar suit against other firms including Fitbit and Under Armour alleging infringement on the same patents. It's worth noting that both Fitbit and Under Armour have already settled out of court. That would seme to indicate the firms believed they may have infringed on the patents because if they thought they could win, they would have likely fought the case in court or at least waited until Nintendo's ruling was made.

This suit also covered tech used in the Wii U console. Nintendo lost a Wii U suit to Philips in the UK back in 2014. Philips also sued Nintendo in the US in 2014 over tech that had to do with the innovative motion controllers Nintendo used on the Wii and Wii U.