Nintendo facing yet another lawsuit: Coincidence or greed?

Nintendo has found themselves in yet legal another scuffle, this time it over their popular hand-held system. Controllers and Wii-motes aside, the Nintendo DS finds itself at the center of the latest controversy involving yet another disputed patent. With the huge success Nintendo has had in the latest console war, one must wonder if this were not coincidental. Could our beloved goomba-stomping, star-collecting hero be some sort of patent thief? Or is everyone just trying to cut down Mario’s precious coin count?

The latest legal problem facing the large coin purses of Nintendo involves Nintendo’s DS touch screen technology. John R. Martin alleges that he originally filled the patent for the touch screen technology in 1995, and in turn he updated the patent in August 2005.

What is interesting is the Nintendo DS was launched in November 2004, well before the updated patent. Could this have been a quick fix to a patent that did not cover the technology that Nintendo offered? Or is Nintendo guilty of patent infringement from the get-go?

It’s hard to say. The touch screens, remotes and Wi-Fi that Nintendo has implemented in their gaming systems are nothing new in the world of technology. Perhaps Nintendo simply brought these appealing aspects of technology together successfully and profitably, and only now does everyone want a piece of the paycheck.

The sad reality is that, regardless of whether Nintendo is in the wrong or not, they will probably end up forking over some coin in the end. Nintendo has already settled a 21 million dollar lawsuit involving Anascape concerning patent issues with many different controller schemes. Money talks, and it’s an upsetting reality that everyone wants a piece of what Nintendo has achieved over the past 20 years. These patent claims seem silly at best, and if the technology was something special, then the parties originally involved with the patents had ample opportunity to lay claim to the financial rewards. But, since Nintendo was the only one able to capitalize on good (albeit similar ideas) it looks like they’re the ones that will have to pay.