Nintendo sues Nyko over Kama wireless nunchuk

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jun 13th 2008 9:00AM

Nintendo may not make a wireless nunchuk controller, but it'll be gosh darned if someone else is going to do it. Bloomberg reports that Nintendo has sued peripheral manufacturer Nyko over its Kama Nunchuk (pictured above). The Big N claims the design infringes on its trademarks, contending the Kama "appropriates the novel shape, design, overall appearance and even the color and materials used in the Nintendo Nunchuk controller."

Nyko reportedly responded that it didn't "knowingly" violate the company's patent and is looking into the issue. Nintendo wants cash for Nyko infringing on two of its patents and to stop selling the product. The Kama retails for $35 and, given Nintendo's legal war chest, if you're in the market for a wireless nunchuk, now's probably a good time to get it before it's gone. Perhaps this is a sign Nintendo is up to a wireless nunchuk of its own, or would that be something only "geeks and otaku" would be interested in?

[Via Kotaku]

Source

Tags: kama, kama-nunchuk, lawsuit, nintendo, nyko, sue, Wii

Reader Comments (64)

Thats a bit harsh..

That's a bit Nintendo... people forget they were famous for this behavior last time they ruled the industry...

Wong,

Well when you're the only company coming up with original and intuitive ideas in the industry, you'd be pretty hard about your stuff too, wouldn't ya??

Well, if I was such a company, yeah I would be. But all Nintendo has done so far has been to replace "press A to attack" with "shake hand vigorously to attack."

"But all Nintendo has done so far has been to replace "press A to attack" with "shake hand vigorously to attack."

Yep. That's entirely all they've done.

"Well, if I was such a company, yeah I would be. But all Nintendo has done so far has been to replace "press A to attack" with "shake hand vigorously to attack."

Sarcasm noted...both here and below. But, you sidestep an obvious concern on Nintendo's part.

"But all Nintendo has done so far has been to replace "press A to attack" with "shake hand vigorously to attack."

And ultimately it makes infinitely more sense to swing your hand like a sword as opposed to pressing a button.

Well, I'll grant you that one samfish. Unless you're playing Dynasty Warriors on Wii. That could possibly be the only game ever where a seizure is the preferred control method...

Besides, not really trying to hate on the Wii since I have one and enjoy it from time to time. But the whole "revolutionize the way we play games" is a tad cliche. I would agree if the game designs themselves were adjusted to match the new schemes, but they aren't. It's disappointing to me to see this new control method somehow NOT breeding new game design ideas and such.

I personally would like to see these patents. I wasn't aware that you could patent the "look, shape and materials" of a device, so much as the method that the device uses to perform a function. And a patent like that (assuming Nintendo has one), I would assume Nyko already licensed.

"... appropriates the novel shape, design, overall appearance and even the color and materials used in the Nintendo Nunchuk controller."

Maybe Nintendo is going to release a first party wireless Nunchuck.

God I hope not. That's a retarded idea to begin with. If Nintendo should be working on anything, it should be putting the wavebirds back into production for a reasonable price and designing a classic controller that doesn't feel like it has has tumors on the underside.

Sorry, no. Nintendo should focus on its current console by making games that actually take advantage of the new controller. Not put out accessories for their old, failed console.

nunchucks are no longer nunchucks when you remove the wire.

What about a first-party rechargeable solution?

*sigh*

Nintendo, don't do this... Nyko fixed YOUR fucking mistake with the Charge Station. You chase them away, there is no reason for Nyko to continue to create third party accessories for your system. Essentially this is self damaging and the basis of which is as simple as "Those fuckers even labeled the C and Z buttons the same as our nunchuck!"

Come to think of it, they DID label the C and Z buttons the same.

Hmmmm, maybe this has some merit afterall. I mean the same button names? That's just blatant...

"Nyko fixed YOUR fucking mistake with the Charge Station."

Not to mention the Perfect Shot's answer to that garbage first party Zapper.

This whole thing is very annoying. If Nintendo wants to get back at Nyko for making better peripherals than they do, poach some of their designers. Don't sue.

Just to attempt to throw a little reason in the mix. Nintendo is required to protect their patents and can't do nothing about this or they risk losing the patent. They could however try to license the patent to Nyko.

Either way I'm sure Nyko isn't going to stop producing accessories for the Wii especially since it is consistently outselling everything out there.

Plus the charging station didn't save anything, rechargeable AAs FTW.

The charging station added the feature standard of 360 and PS3 controllers. Well, okay, not STANDARD STANDARD on 360 but regardless. It was an option provided by Microsoft. Nintendo pretty much went from having Perrin Kaplan mistakingly saying the WiiMote is rechargable, to stating the option isn't needed, to saying "well, they make rechargable batteries." Nyko was the first to solve the problem and was used as an asset to many a ProNintendo rant.

Which is a shame because Nintendo was the first to put a rechargable battery standard to a handheld console.

"Just to attempt to throw a little reason in the mix. Nintendo is required to protect their patents and can't do nothing about this or they risk losing the patent. They could however try to license the patent to Nyko."

You make an excellent point, loof. This will probably be ignored.

This is far to good an opportunity to bash Nintendo. They haven't provided many of these lately.

Nope, COPYRIGHTS need to constantly be protected. You don't default out of patents. Otherwise Gibson would have no case against Guitar Hero.

Actually, you're wrong, too. It's _trademarks_ that constantly need to be protected.

Many game consoles have first party hardware, and many company's have made 3rd party hardware which is basically the same, there's shit loads of this stuff for the Wii already, why sue this specific controller? conspiracy going on..

So let me get this straight.

All these years why Nyko, Madkatz, Thrustmaster, Logitech, et al... all these years when they make 3rd party SNES, Dreamcast, and Gamecube controllers that look 99% like the real 1st party controller, they don't get sued... but now they do?

We all know what this is about.

This is the first 3rd party controller that is visibly and practically better than the 1st party option.

Nintendo got hustled and NOW they've decided to muscle their way out of it.

Just look all the third party controllers from last gen and current gen. None of them looks like the original.

The original design is patented and cannot be copied, unless is a licensed product.

Have you seen a third party six-axis that doesnt look bad?

Same thing with the PS2, Gamecube and 360 third party controllers.

I agree. It's like Nintendo saying, "We're will sue you because you're product is too good, and we didn't put ours out sooner." Lame.

Granted, it does look like Nintendo's 1st party controller, but don't they all end up looking at least something like the 1st party controllers. I mean, people expect all the buttons to be in basically the same place across 1st and 3rd party controllers...

If they lose sales to someone else then of course they will do it!
Just weird that now they really can afford to lose a few sales to 3rd party.

But we all know that 3rd party and Nintendo never go well together. See: Bestselling Nintendo game list

You people are idiots for down-voting Fernando. 3rd party controllers have never looked "99%" similar to 1st party controllers. They've always been a different color, or loaded with rubber, usually with inferior sticks that break right away and altered buttons.

Even if the outsides didn't look similar in this case, they still can have the same tech on the inside that would violate patents. To say Nintendo shouldn't protect its brand and its intellectual property is silly, and I would like to see your reaction if this were sony suing.

They're just mad that someone else beat them to the wireless nunchuck.

That or they're trying to catch up to Sony and MS in bad PR. :P

Nintendo still owes us an apology for the dumb comment made by their Europe rep. Or at least fire him. I'd be happy then.

And here I always thought that they had to get permission from the platform makers to create a 3rd party controller...

And isn't this the key? Did Nyko have permission from Nintendo to use the same design/everything in making this wireless nunchuck??

You guys that are slamming Nintendo for this need to make sure that all the facts are taken into account. I'm not a fan of lawsuits, at all. But, you have to figure that Nintendo is smart enought to realize that if they gave permission to Nyko they would not have a leg to stand on in this lawsuit.

Further, have you guys seen most 3rd party controllers?? As Fernando menioned above, they are rarely an exact duplicate of the 1st party iteration.

The only almost duplicated accesories are the ones who are licensed, like the Logitech controllers. Logitech are official products.

Just watch the third party 360 controllers: they have the dashboard button in other place, or with another shape. And look the Nyko Sixaxis controller. It doesnt look anything like the original.

It's a return to the old nintendo arrogance. Just like old times. Make fun of your most loyal customers and limit their playing options.

But at least we were playing with power...

It's nothing of the kind. Every company sues to protect its intellectual property.

Good. I don't want to use shittily made 3rd party accessories like this. Blown up any more 360's Nyko?

Good on Nintendo. I hope they get a lot of money from Nyko.

You sir, are an idiot.

If they get rid of all 3rd party apps, then there's no reason to keep prices low, or to innovate e.g. add wireless.

Eating an ice cream atm so can't type anymore for now

"It could easily be construed as Nintendo 1st Party and people will quickly jump to associate the product with Nintendo. "

A la Power Glove? How many people still use that as an example of Nintendo peripherals that sucked when Mattel made the damn thing? Still 'so bad' though.

WTF comment system?

if nintendo releases a first party wireless nunchuck
it wont be $35.
Also if nintedo stop selling crap like , sport add ons,
colored jackets and plastic molding in the shape of a gund for $25, maybe they could get around to putting out the chargers and wireless nunchuk and classic control.

I sure as hell hope they're making their own wireless nunchuck, I never trust third party accessories. I've never had a third party accessory that hasn't broken.

That "geeks and otaku" line gives Nyko a chance in court, actually... But I have the Nyko Kama. It's the exact shape, feel, and uses pretty well the same shape and individual parts as the Ninty Nunchuk. Kinda freaky. Even the Analog stick is the same. The only major appearance differences are the power button, the wireless LED status light, and the plastic buttons are clear. In all aspects, it's better than the Nintendo Nunchuk, until you get to control quality. The analog stick is terribly inconsistent (best seen on MLB Power Pros) with the Kama. Why should Nintendo sue a company who makes an inferior product?

"Why should Nintendo sue a company who makes an inferior product?"

If it's the exact same design/feel/etc and "inferior", as you claim, it's pretty obvious why Nintendo would sue. It could easily be construed as Nintendo 1st Party and people will quickly jump to associate the product with Nintendo.

There are many reasons why Nintendo would sue, assuming permission/rights were not given to Nyko. But again, people are putting very little thought into this and jumping to immediate bash mode.

The geeks and otaku quote came from the president of Nintendo of Europe regarding a HDD, or any kind of added storage device for the Wii.

Nintendo: "Hey Nyko, how's it going?"

Nyko: "Dude, WTF!?!?"

I always liked Nyko's products....

Screw you Nintendo for trying to stifle their creativity!

Has anyone tried it out?

Yes, I own the NYKO wireless Kama nunchuck.

Once I finally got it linked with the remote, it worked/works wonderfully. No problems whatsoever and I am very happy with it.

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Nintendo sues Nyko over Kama wireless nunchuk

Reader Comments (64)

Posted: Jun 13th 2008 9:07AM Greyze said

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