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A company tried to sue Nintendo for making the DS and 3DS, but was thankfully shut down

High profile troll

A company tried to sue Nintendo for making the DS and 3DS, but was thankfully shut down
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3DS

The US courts have decided that Nintendo cannot be sued because it made the 3DS and DS. Sounds silly but it's true.

It's part of a conflict that Nintendo had with The Quintal Research Group that started back in 2009.

In 2008, Quintal got a patent on a "computerized information retrieval system."

This system is described as "having a generally rectangular shape, with a display screen on one side that has a frame with an ergonomic placement of finger controls including a pair of thumb controls on the top of the display with at least one of the finger controls being a cursor or pointer control."

So, in theory, Quintal can push their patent into the face of any company that makes a device that fits that description. It just so happened that Quintal decided that Nintendo and its range of handheld devices would be a good target.

As such, in May 2009, Quintal offered to sell Nintendo a license to produce the Game Boy Advance, DS, and 3DS. By July, Nintendo had stopped talking to Quintal and carried on as normal.

Nintendo 3DS

However, in 2013, Quintal tried to bite back by filing a lawsuit against Nintendo. This was a way to cover the apparent costs that Nintendo had afforded Quintal by ignoring its patent.

This lawsuit was settled recently as the US courts thought that it was a load of old tosh and essentially shut Quintal's efforts down.

Don't worry, then, Nintendo is in no trouble (as it shouldn't be) and will continue selling its handheld consoles.

The lawsuit has, however, caused Nintendo to criticise the current patent system.

It went so far as saying that it supports "patent reform efforts that reduce the unnecessary and inefficient burden cases like this one placed on technology companies in the United States."

MCVUK
Chris Priestman
Chris Priestman
Anything eccentric, macabre, or just plain weird, is what Chris is all about. He turns the spotlight on the games that fly under the radar.