Nintendo Denies Ogma Patent Infringement Claims As ITC Opens Probe
"Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, and believes that none of its products infringe” on a patent owned by Longview, Texas, company Ogma that’s at the heart of a complaint Ogma filed at the U.S. International Trade Commission, a Nintendo of America spokesman said Monday. The commission, acting on Ogma’s complaint, has opened an investigation of “certain motion-sensitive sound effects devices and image display devices and components and products,” it said Friday.
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The products of Nintendo and 21 other companies named in the amended complaint that was filed April 26 by the little-known Ogma included various types of electronic devices, including mobile phones, computers, toys and videogame products. The Nintendo products in question were the Wii console and Wii-related controllers.
Other companies named in the complaint included Activision Blizzard, Canon, Jakks Pacific, Lenovo, Sony Ericcson and game accessory makers Mad Catz Interactive and Nyko Technologies. Canon declined to comment. A Jakks spokeswoman said her company was “investigating the allegations and has no comment until it completes its own assessment.” The others couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Under commission procedures, now that an investigation has been opened, the case will be assigned to an administrative law judge, who will schedule an evidentiary hearing.
Nintendo was accused of infringing on a U.S. patent (6,150,947) for a “programmable sound effects device which utilizes a motion-sensitive mechanism for selecting unique sound effects.” Other companies named in the complaint were accused of infringing on that patent or another (5,825,427) for an image display system.
Mad Catz and Nyko were accused of infringing on the “947” patent with various game controllers, including Mad Catz’s Wii and Rock Band controllers, and Nyko’s Wand and other Wii controllers. Activision was accused of infringing on the same patent with products including the Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk skateboarding games’ accessories. Ogma claimed that various Jakks interactive game products, including a Sponge Bob SquarePants plug-and-play device, infringed on the same patent. Ogma claimed that Canon’s LV-8215, LV-8300 and LV-8310 LCD projectors infringed on the “427” patent. Lenovo was accused of infringing on that patent with products including the G350 notebook. Sony Ericcson was accused of infringing on both patents with products including the Xperia X8 mobile phone.
Sony Electronics and Sony Computer Entertainment America were named in the original complaint, but removed from the amended one because they settled with Ogma, Jim Otteson, an Ogma attorney, told Consumer Electronics Daily Monday. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed. Ogma also filed separate patent infringement suits against the companies in U.S. District Court, Marshall, Texas.