Gamevice, Inc. v. Nintendo Co.
No.
2:17-CV-05923 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 9, 2017)
On August 9, 2017,
Gamevice – perhaps best known for the Wikipad and slide-
and snap-on cell phone controllers for Android and iOS – sued Nintendo in the Central
District of California, alleging that the Nintendo
Switch violates U.S. Pat. No. 9,126,119 B2 to Joynes et al (“the ’119 Patent”).
The
’119 Patent relates to a game controller, including a computing device (e.g. a tablet) which is attached to an
input device with two sides (e.g. a
left portion of a controller and a right portion of a controller), a “structural
bridge” (e.g. something to hold the
back of the tablet), a conduit, and a fastening mechanism (e.g. structure to connect it all together). The Wikipad, for example, features
a tablet which slides into a U-shaped controller featuring two analog sticks, a
directional pad, buttons, and a speaker bar. A figure
from the ’119 Patent depicting a Wikipad-like device is shown above.
Interestingly,
whereas the Wikipad product had a “structural bridge” comprising, for example, the
above-pictured bottom speaker bar and back supporting mechanism, the Nintendo
Switch does not have a bottom speaker bar or the like. Rather, the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con
controllers independently slide onto the left and right sides of the Nintendo
Switch tablet. Gamevice argues that a
portion of the Nintendo Switch tablet itself is the “structural bridge”:
