After six years, Nintendo may finally be walking away from a patent dispute over its Mii characters. In 2011, US company RecogniCorp sued Nintendo for allegedly infringing on its patented technology for producing and storing police sketch-artist data. Now the US federal appeals court has ruled in Nintendo’s favor, upholding a previous decision.
“We are very pleased with the court’s decision,” said Ajay Singh, Nintendo of America’s Director of Litigation and Compliance.
“The decision marks another case in which Nintendo’s unique ideas overcame unjustified threats of patent infringement.”
In 2015, RecogniCorp lost its lawsuit against Nintendo. It claims the technology that stores Nintendo’s Mii characters employs the same techniques described in its patent for making police sketches of suspects. A federal judge ruled against the claim and in Nintendo’s favor, saying mathematical operations cannot be patented.
Yesterday, the company lost its appeal for the same reason once again.
“Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products and we will continue to vigorously defend all our products from meritless patent lawsuits,” said Singh.
Nintendo has a long history of patent lawsuits and appeals. Last year, an appeals court judge overturned a $30.2 million lawsuit involving a former Sony inventor, who claimed Nintendo infringed on his 3D display technology when making the 3DS. The appeals judge sided with Nintendo, despite the earlier ruling against the company.