Nintendo taken to court over Wii Remote

Interlink Electronics claim they've got a patent on the pointing element

11 December 2006 17:44 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Nintendo's Wii Remote seems a magnet for unwanted attention at the moment. First gamers complained of damage caused when the wrist strap reportedly breaks causing the Remote to go flying; now it turns out that Nintendo is being sued by Interlink Electronics, which alleges patent infringement.

Interlink apparently received a patent in February 2005 for a “trigger-operated electronic device”, which is certainly one element of the Wii Remote.

It also supposedly covers pointer function, where the device picks up where on the screen the controller is pointing.

However, Kotaku, who broke the story, has pointed out that the Nintendo 64 has a rigger controller that was released in September 1996, which is a year before Interlink filed the original patent.

According to The Register, Interlink patented the elements for a mouse-replacement device, rather than a videogames controller.

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