Court tosses patent lawsuit over Nintendo Wii Balance Board
updated 12:30 pm EST, Fri March 2, 2012
Nintendo defends third straight patent lawsuit
Nintendo has fought off a patent lawsuit relating to its Wii Balance Board and software in Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus games. A Maryland US District Court judge summarily dismissed the case, which was brought on by IA Labs. In a statement after the ruling, the video game maker went as far as describing IA Labs as a "patent troll," or a company that has no meaningful products and exists solely based on lawsuits and royalties.
The unusually direct statement from Nintendo may have been brought on by this being the third time in a row in 2012 alone that Nintendo has successfully fought off a "trivial" patent lawsuit.
Nintendo has been the target of numerous previous lawsuits, whether by itself or with others, over gaming control patents. It has mustered a successful defense more often than many companies that have often had to pay a settlement or risk a product ban.
