Nintendo wins appeal on patent ruling

Nintendo has won a long-running battle with Anascape over its complaint that the Wii manufacturer infringed its patent in the construction of the console's Classic Controller.

The case was originally heard in East Texas in May 2008 and ruled that while the Wii Remote and Nunchuk didn't infringe on US patent 6,906,700, the Classic Controller did - and while Nintendo was subsequently banned from selling the peripheral in the US, the company immediately appealed, ensuring that it could remain in the shops until the appeal was resolved.

But now a fresh jury has upheld the appeal by Nintendo and thrown out claims that the Classic Controller infringed that patent - despite both Sony and Microsoft settling with Anascape on the same subject in 2004 and 2008 respectively.

"Today the Federal Circuit's ruling confirmed that none of Nintendo's controllers infringe," said Nintendo of America general counsel Rick Flamm. "We appreciate that our position has been vindicated."

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