Motiva v. Nintendo – Patent Arcade

Jun

2013

Case Update: Motvia v. Nintendo

Motiva v. Nintendo

US District Court for the Western District of Washington
(originally Eastern District of Texas)

Case No.: 10-cv-349; filed March 2, 2010 (originally filed
November 10, 2008)

Motiva
originally filed suit against Nintendo for infringing its patent number
7,292,151, which is for a “Human Movement Measurement System”. Aside from the discovery issues pointed out
in a previous update,
the case has not moved forward. The case
is currently stayed until findings are delivered by an investigation being
conducted by the International Trade Commission.

Oct

2010

Motiva Opens New Case Against Nintendo in the ITC

As we last reported here, Motiva LLC has previously accused Nintendo Co., Ltd of infringing U.S. Patent No. 7,292,151 (‘151 Patent). The ‘151 Patent, entitled “Human Movement Measurement System,” is generally directed to a system for measuring human body movements for exercise and physical rehabilitation, and Motiva alleged that Nintendo’s Wii Fit product was an infringement. Its previous efforts at enforcement stalled when the patent underwent reexamination at the PTO, but Motiva has just added a new chapter to the story. Last week, Motiva filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC), accusing Nintendo of infringing both the ‘151 Patent and a continuation application (U.S. Patent No. 7,492,268). The essential claims remain the same. Motiva claims that its patents cover the human movement tracking employed by the Wii Fit.

The alternative venue is not an uncommon one for asserting patents, and does not rule out or obviate parallel district court proceedings (although one can be stayed for the other).

In an ITC action such as this, a complainant alleges that some other person (a respondent) is importing goods that is otherwise harming an existing U.S. (domestic) industry. If the ITC concludes that such harm is being done, the ITC can issue an Exclusion Order, instructing U.S. Customs to block the future importation of goods that do the harm. To a company whose manufacturing facilities are located outside the U.S. (true for many consumer products companies these days), such an Exclusion Order can be every bit as painful as a district court injunction.

An ITC action is similar to a district court action in many ways. There is a complaint, there will be discovery (the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are adopted at the ITC for many aspects of case management), there are motions, and there will be a hearing that is conducted much like a trial.

There are differences as well. Most notably, an ITC action is much faster than a typical district court action. In the ITC, a typical proceeding is scheduled for completion in just over a year (can be a bit longer for “complex” cases). The compressed schedule puts pressure on everyone, but the pressure usually affects the accused infringer more, since they do not control the timing of when the complaint is filed.

Another difference is the presence of a third party in the case. Unlike a district court action, an ITC investigation will also have an Investigative Staff Attorney, who is there to represent the interests of the citizens of the U.S. The Investigative Staff can participate in the case much like a party, reviewing discovery, asking questions, and filing responses to motions and objections.

Another difference is at the outcome of the case. The ITC cannot award monetary damages, and cannot redress past infringement. Instead, the remedy is the Exclusion Order, which will only affect attempted importations after the Order takes effect. Additionally, when an Exclusion Order is issued, the President of the United States has a period of time in which to review the case and reject it. Such a rejection is not common, but it can be made, for example, if the President deems that excluding the importation would unduly harm international relations.

We’ll keep you posted as to further developments, and in the meantime, please drop us a line if you have any questions about the case or the ITC.

Nov

2008

New Case: Motiva v. Nintendo (patent infringement)

Well, it looks like Nintendo has been sued for patent infringement again. This time by Motiva LLC, for infringement of U.S. Pat. No. 7,292,151, which is directed to a “Human Movement Measurement System.” The patent appears to relate to “a system and methods for setup and measuring the position and orientation (pose) of transponders. More specifically, for training the user to manipulate the pose of the transponders through a movement trajectory, while guided by interactive and sensory feedback means, for the purposes of functional movement assessment for exercise, and physical medicine and rehabilitation.” The ‘151 patent has 91 claims, so there might be a bit of work to do in this case, unless Motiva only asserts a few claims.

The title and above description would make one think this has something to do with Wii Fit, but the claims are not so limited. For example, claim 1 recites:

1. A system for tracking movement of a user, comprising: a first communication device comprising a transmitter for transmitting signals, a receiver for receiving signals and an output device, said first communication device adapted to be hand-held; a processing system, remote from the first communication device, for wirelessly receiving said transmitted signals from said first communication device, said processing system adapted to determine movement information for said first communication device and sending data signals to said first communication device for providing feedback or control data; and wherein said first communication device receives and processes said data signals from said processing system and wherein the output device provides sensory stimuli according to the received data signals.

Claim 1 indicates that the first communication device is hand-held, which would appear to relate most closely with the Wiimote, not the Wii Fit. Claim 50 (the only other independent claim), also appears to be describing the Wiimote:

50. An apparatus for use in tracking movement of a user, comprising: a transmitter for transmitting signals; a receiver for receiving signals wirelessly from a remote processing system; wherein the apparatus is hand-held; wherein the receiver is adapted to receive feedback or control data signals from the processing system, the feedback or control data signals derived from processed information including movement information of the apparatus; and wherein the receiver receives the data signals from the processing system and wherein the apparatus processes the received data signals to provide feedback or control information to the user.

The ‘151 patent was filed July 22, 2005, and the earliest possible priority date of the ‘151 patent is July 29, 2004. The Nintendo Wii was launched November 19, 2006, and was certainly in development for quite some time before that, so I am willing to bet that the validity of the ‘151 patent is a major issue in this case (in addition to the alleged infringement). Nintendo is sure to argue that the independent claims read on any motion sensor system, and Nintendo was not the first to use such a system (although Nintendo was arguably the first to “successfully” incorporate such a system into a popular game console, which is why they are being sued).

Here is a representative figure from the patent:

The case is Motiva, LLC v. Nintendo Co. Ltd. et al., docket 6:08-cv-429, filed Nov. 10, 2008, in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler Division). We will add the case to our tracker list and keep you posted.

Case Update: Motvia v. Nintendo

Motiva Opens New Case Against Nintendo in the ITC

New Case: Motiva v. Nintendo (patent infringement)

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