Nintendo 3DS used stolen technology?

[RU Joe]

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff has ordered the company to pay 1.82 percent of the wholesale price of each 3DS it sells moving forward to a company called Tomita, after Nintendo was found to be using patented camera technology without permission.

Nintendo ordered to pay portion of every 3DS sold to another company | Plugged In - Yahoo Games Canada

[Slime Slayer]

Seriously?:

"The suit alleged the 3DS’s twin cameras, which let users take 3D photos and videos, incorporates uncredited Tomita technology."

[ARedLetterDay]

I hope this isn't another Harlan Ellison debacle.

[Dudebro]

Nintendo tried to get away with it and got caught, now they're out something like 15 mil.

[Jason L. Davis]

Just makes you wonder how much they actually got away with!

[bearhawk72]

This isn't really surprising. Companies steal tech all the time. They usually end up settling for less than it would have cost them to buy the rights to use it anyways.

[Jason L. Davis]

Absolutely true. Makes you think why they just don't take the extra step to do things right, Now they are paying for it.. Literally!

[RU Joe]

DB:

Nintendo tried to get away with it and got caught,

JLD:

Makes you think why they just don't take the extra step to do things right,

These are exactly the sorts of things I'd been thinking, and it really, really makes me wonder:
Isn't Nintendo a successful company?

Last I heard, they launched a popular and inexpensive console called the Wii, which I believed was a great seller, what with it being hundreds of dollars cheaper than its competing PS3 and XBox 360?


Maybe the sales of the Wii couldn't keep them afloat, with rising costs and all?
Or
Maybe someone inside Nintendo tried to make some personal profit, and pass off that stolen tech as their own creation?



' Hey Boss, look at this nifty new camera system I designed ...'

- ' Good work, Jetson! I'm going to give you a huge bonus for this! '

[Slime Slayer]

It depends on what exactly was stolen, we can only speculate. The issue must be with the program used to combine the 2 pictures into one. It can't have anything to do with the cameras themselves, since they've been around forever, and it can't have anything to do with the fact there are 2 of them side by side, because that would'nt hold up in court.

[Kugyince]

Most likely the something resembling the software was previously developed and patented as Steven said. In all likelihood it wasn't even intentional, just the software they developed was too close to someone else's and that someone else found a way to make a quick buck.

Patent trolls are a mainstay in the tech business. Just earlier this month Nintendo acquired the entire portfolio of IA Labs, a patent troll.

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.

IA Labs Loses Patent Portfolio to Nintendo after Nintendo Wins Patent Lawsuit - Yahoo Finance