Nintendo's Getting Sued for Making a Console With Sliding Modular Controllers

Nintendo is on a hot streak with the Nintendo Switch, and that means it's time for failing companies to hop on the bandwagon and try to exploit that success by any means. In the case of GameVice, that means suing Nintendo for making a multimedia device that features a screen and controllers that slide in and out. That Switch, according to GameVice violates a patent for concepts used in its "Wikipad" device. "What's a Wikipad," you ask? Exactly, my friends. Exactly.

You can find a link to the official documentation between the Plaintiff (GameVice) and the Defendants (Nintendo) right here. There's a lot of legal jargon down there, but the gist is this: GameVice is claiming that Nintendo has "infringed on the rights" of a particular patent which outlines a device described in the following way:

• a computing device, the computing device providing a plurality of sides, each of the plurality of sides are disposed between an electronic display screen of the computing device and a back of the computing device;

• a communication port interacting with the computing device, the communication port providing a communication link and a pair of confinement structures, the pair of confinement structures adjacent to and confining the computing device on at least two opposing sides of the plurality of sides of the computing device;

• an input device attached to and in electronic communication with the communication port, the input device providing a pair of control modules, the pair of control modules providing input module apertures, each input module aperture secures an instructional input device, wherein said input module apertures are adjacent each of the at least two opposing sides of the plurality of sides of the computing device, and wherein the input device is a separate and distinct structure from the communication port, forming no structural portion of the communication port; and

• a structural bridge securing the pair of confinement structures one to the other, in which each of the pair of control modules provide an attachment structure cooperating with the communication port, each attachment structure secures the input device to the communication port, and in which the structural bridge comprising:

• a conduit between the pair of control modules; and a fastening mechanism cooperating with the pair of confinement structures, the fastening mechanism secures the pair of confinement structures one to the other.

It basically describes a screen with controllers that slide and lock into place. They even included an image in the legal document to show a kind of prototype of the Wikipad:

So what are they asking for? Nothing big, of course, only for Nintendo to stop selling the Nintendo Switch immediately and pay damages, attorney fees, and court costs. I know, I'm rolling my eyes over here, too. What they really want is for Nintendo to pay them a few million dollars our of court to STFU and leave them alone. Typically, whenever Nintendo is dragged into court over something petty like this it wins, so I wouldn't be too concerned if I were you.

(source / via)