A former Sony employee gets a $30.2 million paycheck for violating his 3D technology patent by Nintendo.
A jury decided on Wednesday March 20th that Nintendo violated Seijiro Tomita's patent with its 3Ds handheld gaming system. The core idea of the patent is the breakthrough technology that allows for 3D displays without the need for 3D glasses - the Nintendo's signature feature. Seijiro claimed that he showed his designs to Nintendo executives in 2003, eight years before the 3Ds hit the market.
The counter-argument from Nintendo was that they didn't use the main aspects of Tomita's designs and its meetings with Tomita was one of the general discussions it had with several suppliers and vendors. However, this argument was rejected at the trial.
Tomita claimed that he deserved $10 reward on every 3Ds sold, which translates into $300 million - several times the actual Tomito's award.
Nintendo is a very reputable company with a long history developing innovative products respecting IP of other inventors. This jury's verdict shouldn't impact Nintendo's sales.
original article at Mashable
original article at Mashable
when the 3ds came out, the glasses-free 3d technology blew my mind. Now that I find out it was invented 10 years ago, it blows my mind even more.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of Nintendo being too involved in the smartphone wars, but given that their original Nintendo DS systems also had the capability to transmit images and other data wirelessly, I would not be surprised too see them be more involved in the smartphone patent war as a company seeking settlements.
ReplyDeleteI find myself most surprised that an individual received a payout in this case. We keep reading and hearing about companies suing one another and settlements paying out to firms. It's surprising that a single inventor in this case is going to get such a large sum of money.
ReplyDeleteThis huge amount of transactional money describes a huge discrepancy between what is abundant for many people. $30.2 million may seem like a lot to an individual, but it might me chump change for a corporation. It makes me wonder how the legal system adjusts for this discrepancy. If I had a patent of that caliber, I could probably sell it for $5 million, but if I had someone violate it, I could potentially earn so much more from the patent law suit.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really smart move by Nintendo. They have the technology for groundbreaking patents, despite the fact that they are in teh gaming industry, it can overlap with the mobile device space.
ReplyDeleteI have tried one of the Samsung's 3D phone. However, the 3D view looks very dizzying. I don't thing that it works. However, the patent worth $30.2 millions.
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