Copper Innovations not playing games with Nintendo and Sony
By Algeria R. Ford
Late last year, Pittsburgh-based Copper Innovations Group entered into the video-gaming market in an unorthodox way. On December 27, 2007, it filed suit against video game console manufacturers Nintendo and Sony for allegedly infringing one of its patents.
On December 27, 2007, Copper Innovations Group filed a patent infringement suit against the two media giants in a Western District Court in Pennsylvania. Copper alleges that the technology used in Nintendo’s Wii Remote, Wii Nunchuk, Sixaxis controller, and Blu-ray Remote Control and Sony’s Playstation 3 controllers infringe a patent owned by Mr. John M. Copper.
Copper’s patent, U.S. patent number 5,640,152, which was filed in January 1996, describes “a method and system for generating command signals for a computer monitor or other equipment.” The patent also describes the technology as “a hand held device having a control disc readily manipulable by a digit of a hand holding the device.”
Copper seeks injunctive relief, damages plus interest, and attorney’s fees. The court’s imposition of an injunction would have especially severe financial ramifications for both manufacturers, as their revenue forecasts for fiscal year 2008 rely heavily upon the sales of consoles. Both companies have yet to respond to Cooper’s complaint.
Copper’s patent infringement suit is the latest of a series of such suits that have been filed against Nintendo and Sony. Last year, Sony defended itself against a patent infringement suit brought by Parallel Processing, which alleged that the Playstation 3’s microprocesser infringed Parallel Processing’s patent and Lone Stare Inventions sued Nintendo alleging that Nintendo’s Wii infringed the company’s patented capacitor design.