Nintendo hit with 3DS patent damages
March 14, 2013
By Chris Forrester
Nintendo has been found guilty of infringing inventor Seijiro Tomita’s patents for 3D displays on its handheld 3DS console system. Former Sony employee Tomita’s patents relate to viewing 3D material without glasses. The jury at the US District Court in Manhattan awarded Tomita $30.2 million in compensatory damages.
Nintendo’s lawyers had argued that its 3DS system did not use the key elements of Tomita’s patents.
Tomita started his action in 2011, although stated that his first meetings with Nintendo occurred in 2003. His patent (7,417,664, “Stereoscopic Image Picking Up and Display System Based Upon Optical Axes Cross-Point Information.”) was registered in 2008 having been applied for in 2003.