Nintendo has entered into a global patent license agreement with Phllips.
The agreement between the two companies will allow Nintendo and Philips to cross-license parts of the other company's patent portfolio.
"We are pleased to have reached agreement with Philips, as it demonstrates that both companies recognize the importance of intellectual property rights," says Martina Franke, European General Counsel of Nintendo of Europe. "Nintendo has a substantial IP portfolio and a long history of developing innovative products while respecting valid intellectual property rights of others."
What's going on exactly? Let's backtrack a bit.
Back in May, it was alleged that technology company Philips had filed a complaint against Nintendo. That complaint was that Nintendo had infringed on two Philips patents in the US. According to said complaint, the patent was for an "interactive system for which a user can remotely control devices in an intuitive manner."
Then in June, over in the UK this time, Nintendo lost a lawsuit in which the court stated Nintendo was in fact infringing on two of Philips' motion control patents. The Judge at the time, Colin Birss, ruled that that the Wii, Wii Remote, Wii Motion Plus controllers, Nunchuk, Balance Board, Wii U console and GamePad violate patents laid out by Philips in the UK.
The new licensing agreement outlined above ends all proceedings brought against Nintendo by Philips, and those which Nintendo brought against Philips.
