Phillips sues Nintendo | Continue Play

Dutch electronics company Philips has filed a claim against Nintendo, alleging that the motion-sensing technology used in various Wii accessories infringes on two of its patents.

The patents in question are 6285379 - described as a “virtual body control device”, and 8,537,231, detailing a “user interface system based on pointer device”.

The company is seeking an outright sales ban on both the Wii and Wii U consoles, as well as a multitude of accessories.

Philips and Nintendo have a long and complex history with each other, dating back to the early 90s. Back then, Nintendo entered into an agreement with Sony, whereby Sony would help to develop a CD-rom add-on for the SNES. That ultimately never came to pass, and Sony went off on their own, with their work essentially forming the basis of what would go on to become the original PlayStation.

Following the breakdown of that rate relationship, Nintendo instead turned to Philips. Again, nothing came of that arrangement, and Philips released the ill-fated CD-i console. However, due to the terms of the business contract they had signed with Nintendo, they maintained the rights to develop games using characters such as Mario and Link.

We’ll keep an eye on the story as it develops.

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Dale Morgan

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When Dale isn't crying over his keyboard about his never-ending workload, he's playing games - lots of them. Dale has a particular love for RPGs, Roguelikes and Metroidvanias.