Patents
Nintendo Wins Patent Dispute Against Gamevice
On March 10, 2020, The United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that Gamevice’s U.S. Patent No. 9,126,119 B2, titled “Combination Computing Device and Game Controller with Flexible Bridge Structure” (‘119 patent, shown below) was invalid.
This patent allowed for controllers to be separated and reconnected using a bridge system to a computer for control and use. This is very similar to Nintendo’s Switch console that utilizes a similar mechanism to discount its controllers (called “Joy Cons”) from its portable game console. Gamevice had previously filed two suits against Nintendo for infringing upon its ‘119 patent. In 2017, Gamevice filed suit against Nintendo as it claimed Nintendo's Switch device was similar to Gamevice’s Wikipad. The case, however, was dismissed.
In its second suit in March 2018, Gamevice filed a claim requesting that the US International Trade Commission (US ITC) investigate Nintendo’s Joy-Con controllers used within its Nintendo Switch console. Although the US ITC did not find any concerns regarding Nintendo’s use of its Joy-Con controllers in relation to Gamevice’s patent, Nintendo decided to file an inter partes review of Gamevice’s patent to put an end to all future all suits from Gamevice regarding its controllers.
The US Patent and Trademark Office filed a "termination decision document" on its database this week that explains why it ruled in Nintendo's favor. The biggest factors seem to be Gamevice's use of a flexible bridge to connect the pair of controllers, plus the fact that each controller has to be fitted to a tablet or smartphone. These facets are in contrast to the Switch's wireless connectivity and its lock-on technology.
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