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Philips wins Nintendo Wii patent lawsuit

June 23, 2014

Philips has won a UK court ruling in a global battle over patents for recognising hand gestures and motion on Nintendo’s Wii gaming consoles.

Judge Colin Birss said a Nintendo unit infringed two Philips patents in a ruling. Nintendo didn’t violate a third patent pertaining to modelling a body in a virtual environment, Birss said.

“The common general knowledge did not include a device combining a physical motion sensor with a camera and the reasons advanced by Nintendo for putting those two sensors together in one unit are unconvincing,” Birss wrote in the decision at the UK High Court.

Nintendo said it believes the two patents are invalid and it will seek to appeal the decision. The company has been selling the device in the U.K. since 2006.

“Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others,” the company said. “Nintendo is committed to ensuring that this judgement does not affect continued sales of its highly acclaimed line of video game hardware, software and accessories and will actively pursue all such legitimate steps as are necessary to avoid any interruptions to its business.”

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