A US court has cleared Microsoft and Nintendo of infringing on a joy stick-related patent with their Wii, Xbox and GameCube console systems.
U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis ruled that Microsoft and Nintendo did not infringe on a patent held by Fenner Investments.
The judge also ruled that there was no need for a jury trial.
“We are very pleased with the court’s decision,” Rick Flamm, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President, Legal & General Counsel, said in a statement.
Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster told Bloomberg that Microsoft was “pleased” with the judgment.
Fenner Investments held a patent on a way to connect old joysticks to new computers, Bloomberg News said:
The lawsuit targeted Microsoft’s Xbox system and the controllers for Nintendo’s GameCube and Wii. Microsoft and Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo both said in court papers that they don’t use the technology and challenged the patent’s validity, saying it doesn’t cover a new invention.
