Not long after losing a lawsuit to Tomita Technologies, to where they have to pay a royalty for each 3DS sold, Nintendo has turned their fortunes around by acquiring the patents of multiple Wii peripherals after a lawsuit.
IA Labs sued Nintendo for copyright infringement in April 2010 over multiple Wii peripherals, specifically the Wii Balance Board, as they said they held the patents for exercise based gaming peripherals. A judge ruled in Nintendo’s favor in February 2012, which was appealed, but eventually upheld in June 2013.
As a result, IA Labs was ordered to pay Nintendo further costs to make up for having to defend the appeal. They did not do so, which led to the recent sheriff’s sale to sell off their remaining assets. As a result, Nintendo obtained IA Lab’s entire patent portfolio as partial repayment for the legal costs.
