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Nintendo wins another patent case against Wii U, 3DS

California federal court rules that Nintendo's hardware does not infringe

Nintendo has announced that it's won a patent case that began in 2012. In July of that year, Technology Properties Limited LLC, Phoenix Digital Solutions LLC and Patriot Scientific Corporation sued Nintendo both in California federal court and in the International Trade Commission. By February 2014, the ITC held that Nintendo did not infringe those firms' patents, but the the plaintiffs continued to "litigate the same patent and many of the exact same issues before the California federal court." On Friday, it was ruled in federal court once again that Nintendo's Wii U and 3DS systems do not infringe.

Nintendo's platforms in recent years have often been the target of patent lawsuits, and as a quick search of this website's database reveals, the company prevails the vast majority of the time, only occasionally settling or losing (as was the case with a 3D patent display suit in 2013).

"We are very pleased with this decision, which again confirmed that Nintendo's products do not infringe," said Ajay Singh, Nintendo of America's Director of Litigation and Compliance. "It also confirms that Nintendo continues to develop unique and innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others. Nintendo will defend its products and its innovations, even if it must do so multiple times in different places and over many years."

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James Brightman

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James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously EIC and co-founder of IndustryGamers and spent several years leading GameDaily Biz at AOL prior to that.