Wii RemotePoint?
Last weekend I made a comment to Mark that I thought the Nunchuck attachment to Nintendo's Wii Remote reminded me of a product called the RemotePoint that I was introduced to while employed at Interlink Electronics in the mid 90s. Coincidently, I recently discovered that Interlink was also aware of the design similarities but felt compelled to file a lawsuit claiming patent infringement.
The RemotePoint was basically a wireless mouse which had a thumb activated force sensing button on top and a trigger button on the bottom. See the product illustrations for a visual comparison.
I'm not clear on the specific patent violations that Interlink is claiming but it sounds like they will focus on the trigger feature, overall shape of the device and the ability to use the device as a mouse. As you might suspect, a lot of online forum commentors are labeling this lawsuit as "frivolous". It seems obvious that the two devices are designed and targeted for two very different purposes, one for gaming/entertainment and one for PC office presentations. Any similar product design features look to be a result of logical and independent research rather than one of stolen ideas.
I suppose it's possible that Interlink attempted but failed to become an OEM supplier to Nintendo as they did with Microsoft and their original Xbox controller. That's the only scenario that I can think of where they could claim to suffer a "loss of royalties".
In any case, it'll be interesting to see how this story pans out.
The RemotePoint was basically a wireless mouse which had a thumb activated force sensing button on top and a trigger button on the bottom. See the product illustrations for a visual comparison.I'm not clear on the specific patent violations that Interlink is claiming but it sounds like they will focus on the trigger feature, overall shape of the device and the ability to use the device as a mouse. As you might suspect, a lot of online forum commentors are labeling this lawsuit as "frivolous". It seems obvious that the two devices are designed and targeted for two very different purposes, one for gaming/entertainment and one for PC office presentations. Any similar product design features look to be a result of logical and independent research rather than one of stolen ideas.
I suppose it's possible that Interlink attempted but failed to become an OEM supplier to Nintendo as they did with Microsoft and their original Xbox controller. That's the only scenario that I can think of where they could claim to suffer a "loss of royalties".
In any case, it'll be interesting to see how this story pans out.
posted by Robert at December 13, 2006
1 Comments:
Interesting, the lawsuit centers around the Wiimote, not the Nunchuck which looks more like the RemotePoint. People are commenting that the RemotePoint looks like a phaser from Star Trek the Next Generation.
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