Nintendo Acquires Patents of Defunct Patent Troll at Sheriff’s Sale
REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- On Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014, Nintendo obtained the entire patent portfolio of IA Labs during a sheriff’s sale in Montgomery County, Maryland. IA Labs sued Nintendo for patent infringement in April 2010. Nintendo successfully defended the lawsuit and obtained judgment in its favor in February 2012. The trial court also awarded Nintendo some of the costs and fees it incurred defending the case.
IA Labs appealed the trial court’s ruling. The appeals court confirmed Nintendo’s win in June 2013. IA Labs was further ordered to pay Nintendo additional costs incurred in defending the appeal. IA Labs did not pay the amount due, so a sheriff’s sale was conducted to sell IA Labs’ remaining assets, including its patent portfolio. Nintendo obtained IA Labs’ entire patent portfolio at that sale as partial repayment for litigation costs.
“Nintendo’s track record demonstrates that we vigorously defend patent lawsuits, like the IA Labs lawsuit, when we believe we have not infringed another party’s patent. This includes holding those who sue Nintendo responsible for the costs and expenses incurred in patent litigation,” said Richard Medway, Nintendo of America’s vice president and deputy general counsel. “Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others.”
About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.1 billion video games and more than 659 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™ and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.com.
