Nintendo faces ban on some Wii, GameCube controllers
Game maker fails to get $21 million patent infringement verdict overturned.
Unless Nintendo complies with a federal judge's order by Thursday, the company will be faced with a ban on several of its controllers, Bloomberg reports.
A judge for the U.S. Court in the Eastern District of Texas failed to overturn a verdict entered against the Japanese video game maker on July 18. The company had been previously ordered to pay $21 million to Anascape, a Texas company that holds a patent on motion-sensitive controllers.
After declining to order a new trial as Nintendo had requested, Judge Ron Clark instead is scheduled to issue a ban on the sale of the Wii Classic Controller, WaveBird controller, and GameCube controller. (Anascape said that Nintendo's Wii Remote and Wii Nunchuk controllers also infringe on U.S. Patent No. 6,906,700, which describes a "3D controller with vibration," but a jury disagreed.)
Nintendo will have to post a bond or put royalties in an escrow account to avoid the halt, according to Anascape's attorney, but Nintendo said it was already planning on filing an appeal, which should effectively put the ban on hold.