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Nintendo Beats Back Another Patent Troll Over Wii Remote

By Jonathan R. Tung, Esq. on March 08, 2016 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Patent troll lawsuits seem to be hitting everyone these days. Fortunately, Nintendo secured a win against patent troll company UltimatePointer. The suit against Nintendo seemed to come back from the dead after already being denied at least once in 2014.

Denied 2: The Revenge

This was not the first time UltimatePointer LLC found itself before the same federal court in Seattle. Back in 2014, the same court found that Nintendo did not infringe on UltimatePointer's patent with the now iconic Wii remote. Not satisfied with that decision, UltimatePointer tried to overturn the decision with a request for reconsideration. It failed.

Vexatious and Wanton

UltimatePointer tried again and this time the controversy went to the Federal Circuit. The Federal Circuit affirmed the Seattle federal court's ruling and described UltimatePointer's conduct as "vexatious and wanton." In particular, the circuit found that Ultimate could not prove that it had done the proper due diligence and research to indicate that Nintendo's technology was infringing on their lawsuit before they went to court.

This "shoot now, ask questions later" approach was not appreciated by the court, which also ruled that UltimatePointer must pay some of Nintendo's legal fees.

History of Defending Suits

Nintendo is just one of the many tech companies that has had to lawyer up to protect itself in the piranha pond known as the tech-world. Patent trolls use patents for their "inventions" as weapons to extract money out of potential infringers who very often just pony-up money before letting the case actually get to court. Litigation fees can quickly mount up and can soar upwards of millions of dollars. It's no wonder patent-trolling is a business unto itself.

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