Nintendo has finally won damages in a Wii Distant lawsuit it has been fighting since 2010, over an unofficial controller that infringed on the corporate’s patents.
15 years on, Nintendo has claimed victory in its extremely long-running battle against Bigben Interactive (since renamed Nacon), and has been awarded a judgment value $7 million (around $8.2 million). The actual damages Nintendo has been awarded count for around half the quantity, while the remaining is made up of interest, for the reason that case has dragged on for thus long.
Why has it taken a decade and a half to sort? As reported by GamesFray, Nintendo won an early ruling on the case back in 2011, though Nacon has been in a position to delay an additional decision on damages until now. And the matter still is not over, as Nacon is now appealing the decision — holding off on paying for even longer.
Back in 2010, Nintendo said a third-party Wii controller made by Nacon, then Bigben, infringed by itself patents and had caused the corporate to lose money. Without that third-party controller in the marketplace, Nintendo argued, customers would have otherwise bought more of its official Wii Distant as an alternative.
In response, Bigben said that customers could have chosen other third-party controllers in addition to its own, so Nintendo couldn’t claim it will have definitely lost out. But Nintendo ultimately won this argument, as a court decided that the corporate’s patents were strong enough that no other third-party controller might have been made without others infringing on Nintendo’s patents also.
Nintendo has a status for being a litigious company, pursuing video game pirates and instances where it feels its trademarks have been infringed — corresponding to in its current legal motion against Palworld maker Pocketpair, which it currently appears to be battling.
If nothing else, this latest development shows that Nintendo is nothing if not persistent. And if the corporate does need to pursue you, prepare to still be fighting, three console generations later.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You possibly can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social