In December 2017, Nintendo sued the Japanese developer Colopl for patent infringement in the free mobile game Shironeko project. According to an official statement, Colopl has agreed to pay Nintendo 3.3 billion yen ($ 30 million).
Colopl is a major developer of smart devices that titles like TsumTsum land for Disney.
Internationally published as Colopl rune story, Shironeko project is an action role-playing game with touchscreen controls. In its lawsuit, Nintendo alleged Shironeko project has violated five of its patents, including a touch control system, including “using a joystick on a touch screen”.
The infringement appears to relate to a patent introduced with the Nintendo DS wrist strap that doubled as a joystick-like control for the handheld. Shironeko project introduced a so-called “punicon” mechanic in which players drag their finger across the screen and tap to unleash attacks. Nintendo’s claim involves placing any coordinate on the screen and then dragging it like a joystick movement. This led to Colopl changing the input control in February 2020.
Around the time the lawsuit was originally filed, a patent attorney was on Yahoo News! Japan pointed out that the claim was quite complex and that Nintendo’s original patented control scheme was far-reaching. “I think it is possible to call it a ‘killer patent’,” wrote the lawyer.
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Earlier this year, like analyst Serkan Toto pointed out, demanded Nintendo more damages and increased the amount from the original 42 million US dollars to the equivalent of 47 million US dollars. The argument was that Colopl has continued to infringe Nintendo’s patents since the first lawsuit was filed. Until April is the crowd apparently had gained weight to over $ 92 million.
“Then,” writes Colopl in a release announcement “The company has decided that it would be best to settle the matter as soon as possible and has now reached an agreement on the settlement.”
“The agreement stipulates that the company will pay Nintendo a total of 3.3 billion yen as a settlement for the lawsuit,” continues Colopl, “including future licensing and that Nintendo withdraws the lawsuit.”
Based on the comparison, Colopl will post “extraordinary losses” in the third quarter through September 21st and beyond. “
And that ends the Nintendo and Colopl legal saga.
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