Patents Suit against Nintendo Dismissed after Patents Dismissed
A District Court in Texas has dismissed the patents suit against Nintendo filed by Wall Wireless after the patent office dismissed the patents. Wall Wireless claimed the invention by Wall patented in the US and Japan and described as a method and apparatus for creating and distributing media content in real time using wireless communication was filed in 2001. In 2009, Wireless filed a patent infringement suit against Nintendo.
Apart from Nintendo, Wireless also named Sony and Nokia in the law suit. However, Nintendo and Wireless filed a joint motion for the dismissal of the case after the US patent office dismissed the patent infringement claims. This follows the Japanese patent office’s decision that Nintendo did not infringe on the Wireless patent.
Understanding Patents
When a person or business makes an innovation, they need to protect their rights to the innovation or invention in order to benefit financially from it. This right acts as an incentive to businesses to pump in money and time in research and development of new products that will be of use to consumers.
As such the US laws protect inventors and innovators by allowing them to patent their work. Once they have obtained a patent for their unique product no one else can produce, manufacture, or import the invention or a product that uses the invention in the US without obtaining a license from the inventor or patent holder. This helps to protect the rights of the inventor.
Patent Application
In order to protect your rights to the invention you need to apply for a patent. For this the patent has to be described precisely in legal and scientific terms so that any infringement of the patent can be contested. In order to define the patent for the application, you need to retain a specialist patent lawyer who can help you complete the process.
Check Existing Patents
Once the patent lawyer has a clear description of your patent, they will check the existing patents to ensure that your patent does not replicate any other existing patent. Once this has been checked, the patent application can be filed.
Patent Pending
The US patent office typically takes up to 18 months to check the patent and grant the patent. Until then innovators can continue to manufacture and sell their product under a patent pending rule. Once the patent has been vetted and cleared, the patent office will grant the patent.
Patent Infringement
Any business that manufactures or produces products will have many patents and use many innovations. As such they are the target of patent infringement suits and also find the need to protect and safeguard their patents by filing patent infringement suits against other manufacturers. In both these cases, the business needs an experienced patent lawyer who can examine the nuances of the case and file an appropriate response in court or argue the case in court.
Demonstrating Patent Infringement
In order to demonstrate and prove a patent infringement, the patent lawyer will typically produce in court the two manufactured items and show how certain features have been copied. However, this method cannot work in certain instances such as when software patents are being contested and debated. In such cases, the lawyer will have to take into consideration the fact that different software can result in the same result or that various companies were working on the same product at the same time. All of this makes software patent cases much more difficult to argue in front of a court and jury. However, a patent lawyer with knowledge of the nuances of software will be able to present a proper case in court.
Settlement
Sometimes opposing parties in a patent infringement case do not want a lengthy and expensive trial. In such cases, they can settle the dispute out of court and have the case jointly dismissed by the court. This can certainly save attorney fees. It just depends on the proclivity of the business.
