WiiMote – Video Game Law Blog

December 20, 2006March 17, 2008

Class Action Firm and Austin Plaintiff Seek Class Action Status over WiiMote Strap

It was bound to happen! Within days of Nintendo announcing its plan to replace thin WiiMote wrist straps with thicker one’s, a story emerges about a Wii purchaser in Austin, Texas filed a suit alleging Nintendo violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act, was in breach of warranty and engaged in unfair or deceptive practices:

by telling consumers that the wrist strap was to prevent the controller from flying out of a user’s hand during use, and then providing a strap that was “ineffective for its intended use.

As is typical in this kind of case, the plaintiff (or more accurately, his/her lawyers 🙂 ) is seeking status as a class.

December 15, 2006March 17, 2008

Nintendo to Replace WiiMote Wrist Straps/Recalls DS Adapters

After several reports of personal injury and numerous reports of WiiMotes flying through the air and causing property damage, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that Nintendo is voluntarily replacing the wrist straps that come with the WiiMote with stronger “enhanced” versions. There are an estimated 3.2 million straps to be replaced. Despite many press accounts to the contrary, Nintendo is not recalling existing straps. They are simply replacing existing straps upon request.

In a separate announcement Nintendo announced it was recalling some 200,000 AC adapters for Japanese versions of DS and DS Lite portable game systems.

Dale’s Comment: I’m happy to see Nintendo get out ahead of any possible lawsuits on this one. Numerous blog posts and podcasts have already started speculating about the inevitability of lawsuits if Nintendo doesn’t provide a more robust WiiMote wrist strap.

[Dec 20 Update: Well, as you can see from the related posts below, it only took 5 days from my original posting for a lawsuit story to emerge!]

December 10, 2006March 17, 2008

Interlink Claims Nintendo’s Wiimote Infringes its Patent

Text of Complaint (December 4, 2006)
Text of Patent ‘221
Adding to the existing spate of console controller patent infringement suits (see related posts below) Interlink Electronics, Inc. has sued Nintendo of America claiming Nintendo is selling products, the Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote, that infringe its patents. The abstract reads, in part:

A device particularly for use with a computer comprises a housing for location at least partly between two fingers of a user’s hand and an electronic circuit mounted on a board within the housing. The circuit includes a switch responsive to pressure selectively to open and close an electronic circuit, and conductive elements arranged on the board mounting the electronic circuit. A first control element is mounted with the housing and responsive to finger pressure such that pressure applied to the first control element causes the element to operate the switch.