• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Engadget: Nintendo wins appeal in 3DS patent row

ggx2ac

Member
https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/20/federal-appeals-court-upholds-nintendos-win-in-3ds-patent-battl/

Tomita Technologies was accusing Nintendo's new handheld of using its glasses-free 3D display technology without paying royalties. Like most patent lawsuits, it dragged on for years -- first awarding a victory to Tomita before handing the win to Nintendo in appeals.

On Friday, the Federal Circuit court ruled that the Nintendo 3DS does not infringe Tomita's patent.

The question at hand was never if the 3DS allowed for glasses-free stereoscopic images, but rather how it joined the two perspectives of a 3D image to create the illusion of depth. The court used two tests to sort this out -- one that tested to see if the function itself was similar, and a second to determine if the differences between the methods were substantial. "Under both tests," the court wrote in the ruling, "the district court found that the 3DS and the disputed limitation do not possess equivalent structures."

Nintendo would've had to pay $15.1 million in damages if its past victory had not been upheld.

Source: https://www.law360.com/articles/903239/fed-circ-affirms-nintendo-win-in-3-d-gaming-patent-row
 

ggx2ac

Member
I wonder why Nintendo is so averse to overstocking

Probably burned on WiiU no doubt.

It's near the end of its product life cycle and sales will naturally slow down. They don't want to ramp up production or manufacture the same amount of 3DS units this FY for the next FY.

They had YoY growth due to the Pokémon Go effect but that will always be short lived if they're not repeatedly pumping out more Pokémon games for 3DS throughout the year.

This FY they have currently shipped 6.45 million 3DS units and are on track to beat their 7+ million forecast, I forget the exact amount.

I really doubt they will be forecasting anywhere near that same amount for the next FY. I'd say 5 million for optimism. If they don't have another Pokémon or other system seller available especially in conjunction with their mobile games, then it's not going to have YoY growth again.
 
Top Bottom