Appeals Court Affirms Nintendo Victory Over GE.SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 1999-- The Federal Circuit Court in Washington D.C. has unanimously affirmed a summary judgment in favor of Nintendo in a patent law suit brought by General Electric. General Electric had claimed that certain of Nintendo's most successful video game products infringed patents which General Electric had acquired from RCA See RCA connector and video/TV history. in the mid-1980's. Nintendo asserted that General Electric's dated patents had no application to Nintendo's state-of-the-art video game products and that General Electric's claims were baseless. In 1997, Judge Wolin of the New Jersey District Court issued an extensive opinion entering summary judgment of non-infringement on all of the patents that General Electric had asserted. On Wednesday, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Nintendo did not infringe any of those patents. Nintendo of America chairman, Howard C. Lincoln, stated: "We don't give in to claims we believe have no merit no matter how large and prominent our adversary may be, and even if the financial stakes are enormous. We're gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. Nintendo's position has been vindicated." Nintendo was represented by its regular outside counsel John J. Kirby, Jr., Thomas G. Gallatin, Jr., Robert J. Gunther, Jr. and James S. Blank of Latham & Watkins and by Charles P. Baker, Robert H. Fischer and Michael P. Sandonato of Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto. Nintendo Co., Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than one billion video games See video game console. worldwide, created such industry icons as Mario and Donkey Kong Donkey Kong may refer to:
n. A product, such as a book, that is among those sold in the largest numbers. best video game system. As a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. , Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . |
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