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Nintendo Wii Doesn't Infringe On DVD Playing/Parental Control Patent

Legal Issues

from the good-news dept

Fri, Jun 12th 2009 3:38am — Mike Masnick
It's nice to see a patent lawsuit go in the right direction. A judge in LA has tossed out a patent infringement lawsuit against Nintendo concerning parental controls on DVD players. The only problem? The Wii doesn't play DVDs. Of course, Nintendo still faces a number of other patent infringement lawsuits, but at least this one was dealt with relatively quickly.
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Filed Under: dvds, parental controls, patents, wii
Companies: nintendo

27 Comments

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  • identicon
    Noah Buddy, 12 Jun 2009 @ 5:28am

    Frivolous?

    I thought lawyers could get punished for filing frivolously. IMHO I think they need to up the punishment... electro-shock therapy anyone?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      technomage (profile), 12 Jun 2009 @ 5:53am

      Re: Frivolous?

      waste of electricity. Need something better.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2009 @ 8:43am

      Re: Frivolous?

      It would be a big jump to show a completely frivolous filing.

      If anything Mike, you should hold this story up as proof that the copyright / patent systems WORK, no?

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        MattP, 12 Jun 2009 @ 8:54am

        Re: Re: Frivolous?

        "It would be a big jump to show a completely frivolous filing."

        Like functionality that blatantly doesn't exist in their product?

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Mike Masnick (profile), 12 Jun 2009 @ 11:23am

        Re: Re: Frivolous?

        If anything Mike, you should hold this story up as proof that the copyright / patent systems WORK, no?

        Uh, not at all. The fact that anyone even thought this could work shows how far gone the patent system is. The fact that Nintendo had to spend time and money responding to such an obviously false claim shows how far gone the patent system is.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 13 Jun 2009 @ 9:31am

          Re: Re: Re: Frivolous?

          Think about that the next time you get stopped for a crime you didn't commit. It's the nature of the free world.

          [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2009 @ 8:41am

    you could line them all up and try to use the same bullet

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    zellamayzao, 12 Jun 2009 @ 8:57am

    Very smart move on Nintendo's part not allowing their system to play dvd's. Though if it had the ability to play blue ray that would be one cheap blue ray player and they would have sold that many more systems. Even thought it took me quite a while to find one for my fiance.


    Silly lawyers thinking oh Nintendo is a big international company and the Wii relies on discs to play games so it has to be infringing on something for movies....lets sue. sue sue sue sue. And they wonder where the nickname *sharks* came from

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2009 @ 10:23am

    "The Wii doesn't play DVDs...."

    ....unless of course the user exercises their right to modify their Wii.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Yakko Warner, 12 Jun 2009 @ 10:42am

    What about the others?

    So does this mean Sony and Microsoft are infringing? Are they being sued, or are they already licensing this patent?

    And how does this patent not fall under "obvious"? DVDs have a rating. Feature request: let a user decide what ratings they want their system to be allowed to play.

    And that deserves a patent??

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    CleverName, 12 Jun 2009 @ 5:32pm

    Sawed Off Shotgun

    This proves that the patent troll mentality uses a shotgun approach to litigation. Pull the trigger enough times while spinning the shotgun around and you just might hit something. No need to verify whether your claims have merit, its time to win the lotto.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lyoko is Cool, 13 Jun 2009 @ 2:50pm

    Actually

    The Wii /can/ play DVD's, just not natively, see site for details (http://wiibrew.org/wiki/DVDX)

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 13 Jun 2009 @ 8:52pm

      Re: Actually

      Which suggests that perhaps the plaintiffs saw a modified WII in action?

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    smilelin, 22 Jun 2009 @ 1:21am

    wii game

    http://www.micsourcing.com/productdetail.php?category=776&id=9801
    Nintendo Wii Standard Sets + 26-In-1 Sports Pack + 40 Games
    This machine supports both NTSC and PAL color formats (note: NTSC and PAL are two major analog TV color format standard. For instance the United States uses NTSC, and UK and mass majority of European countries uses PAL). We can pre-configure the color format for you, pls find out the right color format for your locale. Important: even if your TV supports multiple color standard, the games you would purchase in your local stores and domestic online stores may not support multiple standards, so it is important for you to find out the right one.
    top quality and best price,the game you can not miss it

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Wii Points, 27 Jul 2009 @ 5:21pm

    Ughh

    People try to sue so quickly now a days to try and make a quick buck. It's kinda pathetic. If you're gonna try and sue someone, at least make sure you have good grounds

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    James Milton (profile), 28 Jul 2020 @ 11:04am

    Uh, it is really intresting and heartstopping stories. I hope that everything is fine now. That's why after visiting this https://bestparentalcontrolapps.com/spy-on-iphone-text-messages/ all my concerns were dissapeared. I think that all parents must track their kinds and use all parental control application. You don't need to worry about anything. Just follow this rules.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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