Nintendo Gets Sued By Tomita Technologies

ElectroYoshi · Post by **ElectroYoshi** » January 7th, 2014, 9:40 pm

To start off 2014, Tomita Technologies sued Nintendo for "using patented camera technology" in the 3DS.

Here's a GenGame article on it.

Personally, I think this is just a very greedy move on Tomita's part. But what do you think?

Swords761 · Post by **Swords761** » January 7th, 2014, 10:49 pm

If only the Wii U was a success and we wouldn't have to worry about impacted 3DS sales...

Post by **Phantomboy** » January 7th, 2014, 10:52 pm

I think it honestly makes sense, if Nintendo had alerted Tomita prior to the release and they had worked out the agreement then - it would have worked our very similarly. So, I don't think this should too much of a shocker to anyone - it was something that probably could have/should have been worked out from day one. So hopefully it's sorted now.

Post by **ThatOneFox** » January 8th, 2014, 10:40 am

ElectroYoshi wrote: Personally, I think this is just a very greedy move on Tomita's part. But what do you think?

Hm really? Put yourself in your position. You're a company, making a respectable amount of money from your technology, which you invented, then a big multi-billion dollar company comes along and uses that idea, giving you no credit for it. I think Tomita are lucky to be able to have won this lawsuit, as normally I would have expected nintendo to win.

The fact that some people are quite annoyed with this irks me, as if they were in the place of Tomita they would have done the same thing.

ElectroYoshi · Post by **ElectroYoshi** » January 8th, 2014, 5:41 pm

StreetLights wrote:Hm really? Put yourself in your position. You're a company, making a respectable amount of money from your technology, which you invented, then a big multi-billion dollar company comes along and uses that idea, giving you no credit for it. I think Tomita are lucky to be able to have won this lawsuit, as normally I would have expected nintendo to win.

The fact that some people are quite annoyed with this irks me, as if they were in the place of Tomita they would have done the same thing.

Well, yes, but in this case it's incredibly minor. The only "patented" part of the 3DS camera is the screen, and that's not worth going to court over.

Swords761 · Post by **Swords761** » January 10th, 2014, 12:35 am

ElectroYoshi wrote:Well, yes, but in this case it's incredibly minor. The only "patented" part of the 3DS camera is the screen, and that's not worth going to court over.

The 3D aspect of the 3DS is not only in the name, but essentially was the initial selling point and distinction between the regular DS and this upcoming new portable generation. The camera taking pictures in 3D is a big part of that selling point too.
I say initial like it matters because this "stems from a lawsuit back in 2011" as the article mentions. Obviously, the system is more well-known and liked for its game library and StreetPass features, but the 3D was definitely Nintendo's push-point at the start of the system's history/launch.

ElectroYoshi · Post by **ElectroYoshi** » January 10th, 2014, 5:56 pm

Swords761 wrote:The camera taking pictures in 3D is a big part of that selling point too.

I knew this already but until now have heard nothing about Tomita being the creators of the technology, which is why I'm unsure whether I believe it or not. All I've heard regarding similarities to the 3DS camera and Tomita's technology is the two using the same screen, which is why this struck me as a somewhat greedy move on Tomita's part (Then again, every source I've found about this was pretty tight-lipped about the details, so...)

Post by **Entity** » January 14th, 2014, 10:41 pm

The 3D isn't even all that great lol. I bought it for the games, not the 3D. I play it for the games, not the 3D.

So now what that they won? They gonna recall all 3DSs?

ElectroYoshi · Post by **ElectroYoshi** » January 14th, 2014, 10:55 pm

Entity wrote:So now what that they won? They gonna recall all 3DSs?

Now Tomita's gonna get a portion of all the profit Nintendo makes on the 3DS between now and when it goes out of production.

Post by **Entity** » January 14th, 2014, 10:56 pm

ElectroYoshi wrote:Now Tomita's gonna get a portion of all the profit Nintendo makes on the 3DS between now and when it goes out of production.

Dang, not bad. How much?

EDIT: Nevermind, read the article xP

ElectroYoshi · Post by **ElectroYoshi** » January 14th, 2014, 10:59 pm

I think it's only supposed to come out to something like $3 a unit, but part of me feels like that'll have a pretty negative impact on them in the long run. I mean, it adds up quick on something that sells as well as the 3DS, so...

I dunno. Just my two cents.

Post by **Entity** » January 14th, 2014, 11:00 pm

ElectroYoshi wrote:I think it's only supposed to come out to something like $3 a unit, but part of me feels like that'll have a pretty negative impact on them in the long run. I mean, it adds up quick on something that sells as well as the 3DS, so...

I dunno. Just my two cents.

Yeah, sell a million 3DSs, lose 3 million dollars :/ I'm sure they're not too excited about that.

ElectroYoshi · Post by **ElectroYoshi** » January 14th, 2014, 11:06 pm

Entity wrote:Yeah, sell a million 3DSs, lose 3 million dollars :/ I'm sure they're not too excited about that.

This, this, and more this.

Also, personally, I don't see why this lawsuit was even necessary. For God's sake, Tomita already got in their faces about once and won. I mean, was that seriously not good enough for them?????

Post by **Entity** » January 14th, 2014, 11:07 pm

ElectroYoshi wrote:This, this, and more this.

Also, personally, I don't see why this lawsuit was even necessary. For God's sake, Tomita already got in their faces about once and won. I mean, was that seriously not good enough for them?????

I mean hey, they're getting free money now

Swords761 · Post by **Swords761** » January 14th, 2014, 11:33 pm

1% is hardly anything, and it definitely wouldn't matter if the Wii U wasn't such a flop; even if Wii U just broke bank, the 99% of revenue the 3DS brings in right now would make Nintendo continue to soar. Unfortunately, Wii U is suffering tremendously, so every million matters right now.

Post by **Entity** » January 14th, 2014, 11:38 pm

Yeah... Nintendo needs to jump on the super good graphics bandwagon. I know everyone's doing it... but imagine a photorealistic zelda game. Sure a bunch of hardcore fans would be butthurt (lol twilight princess) but I think it'd be pretty darn cool.

ElectroYoshi · Post by **ElectroYoshi** » January 14th, 2014, 11:42 pm

Swords761 wrote:1% is hardly anything

It's not much to lose when it's only one unit, but you still have to consider the add-up over time. 1% means they're losing roughly $3 for every 3DS they sell, meaning they're gonna lose 3m for every million they sell. That means that in the long run, they're gonna lose enough profit to buy 15,000 3DSs.

Swords761 · Post by **Swords761** » January 17th, 2014, 4:14 pm

ElectroYoshi wrote:It's not much to lose when it's only one unit, but you still have to consider the add-up over time. 1% means they're losing roughly $3 for every 3DS they sell, meaning they're gonna lose 3m for every million they sell. That means that in the long run, they're gonna lose enough profit to buy 15,000 3DSs.

15 thousand << 10 million.

ElectroYoshi · Post by **ElectroYoshi** » January 17th, 2014, 4:55 pm

Swords761 wrote:15 thousand << 10 million.

Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that it's gonna really bite them in the butt in the long run. Like it or not, 3 million is a lot of money, no matter how much you have overall.

Post by **Sebastian Lawe** » January 18th, 2014, 12:03 pm

Patent laws really should be changed. If I patented my idea of parsing Xenforo based forums, I don't think its fair for me to sue people who make a program that can parse a Xenforo forum.

I would be able to sue Entity in that regard, although his parsing contributes to a different end result. Patents should apply to an end result device, rather than components. If Tomita actually made a 3DS functioning device, then I would see a right to sue.

However, in today's world we care more about money than innovation. I've said this once before. If I take your idea, and make a better implementation of it, its your job to take your idea back and make it better than mine. Competition forces innovation. Patents make things lazy, as you simply sue and are not required to innovate your idea.