Nintendo sued over touch-screen technology

by Phil Larsen on Jul 8th 2008 11:45AM

Another day, another lawsuit for Nintendo. Their wacky ideas have probably been done in some form or another over the years, and now everyone wants a profitable piece of the action. The latest candidate for a chunk of Nintendo's payroll is John R. Martin, who claims to have patented touch-screen and pointing gaming technology in 2005. One year after the DS was released. Despite being a bit late, the origins of the patent date back to 1995, so it's fair game for the courts now.

This image was submitted with the patent filing, apparently showing a device "switchable between an amusement mode and a gaming or gambling mode." The whole touching thing can be found under "operating a touch screen on a CRT or ICD." But gambling? Looks like that diagram is for someone who hides stuff under the table to cheat at blackjack or roulette.

Nintendo has denied the infringement, while Martin is pursuing another suit against Apple.

Source

Tags: gambling, greedy, lawsuit, patent, sued, touch-screen

Reader Comments (4)

Sounds a lot like a video poker patent to me...

I've seen people like this post on forums, asking how something works. They don't have the capacity to program something, but they know how to ask questions. Then they try to patent someone else's work, hoping to get money for free.

Companies like this are usually just trying to get a quick payday, suing for huge dollar amounts in hopes of getting a settlement for just below what it would cost for Nintendo or Apple to litigate. Microsoft and Sony have been victims of these tactics in the past as well. It seems like more of an indication of a broken patent system than systematic illegal use of patents by consumer electronics companies.

I'm just going to go ahead and patent the concept of using an appendage with several digits to manipulate items in a variety of ways. I'll sue everyone.