Nintendo Wins ITC Case Against Creative Kingdoms Over Original Wii-mote - The UpStream

What do theme parks and Nintendo have in common? Both of them use magic wands. At least, that was the claim according to Apollo Global Management's Creative Kingdoms, a company who has created magic wands for kids to "cast spells" at the company's various theme parks around the world. Creative Kingdoms filed a lawsuit in 2011 with the International Trade Commission against Nintendo, claiming copyright infringement on Nintendo Wii remotes. This week, the ITC rules that the Wii could continue to be sold in the US, despite Creative Kingdoms' claims.

In the notice posted earlier in the week, the ITC says that Nintendo has not violated any patent rights that are owned by the theme park company. Because of this the agency has rejected CK's request to prevent Wiis from being imported into the States for sale. This happened after Trade Judge Charles Bullock said that the Wii-mote is not just a "toy wand" and because it does not have a hollow center, the two patents in question were invalid for this lawsuit.

The Commission has determined that complainant has not shown that the accused products directly infringe (on the) patent because they do not meet the limitation "command," and that complainant has not shown that the accused products directly infringe (on the) patent because they do not meet the limitation "activate or control." The Commission has also determined that complainant has not shown that the independently sold Wii MotionPlus and Nunchuck accessories contributorily infringe claim (on the) patent. Lastly, the Commission has determined that respondent has not shown that claim 24 of the '742 patent is obvious.

Creative Kingdoms even had the audacity to say that kids should use the PlayStation Move or Microsoft Kinect instead, because, and I'm paraphrasing, at least you could burn more calories with those systems. Nintendo turned around and called the claim "remarkable." Considering Creative Kingdoms only referred to one game in the ITC filing, the Wii Sports Resort title Airplane, Nintendo also said that demanding an import ban made no sense because you can play other games on the Wii that aren't Airplane.

All of this is really frivolous, even to Nintendo. The case was one of the oldest game-related cases still pending in the ITC's office and Nintendo said that it was finally glad everything was settled. It should be noted that the Wii U was not included in this case because it wasn't sold until after the hearing before the judge, so the new console was left alone. You can click on the source link below to read more on the ITC's ruling and, if you still don't own a Wii and don't want a Wii U, rest assured that you'll be able to purchase one this holiday season.