On March 13, 2013, a jury awarded a $30.2 million dollar verdict to Tomita Technologies International Inc. in its patent infringement with the Nintendo Co. Ltd. Tomita’s suit accused Nintendo of infringing on its “Stereoscopic imaging picking up and display system based upon optical axes cross-point information” patent (which displays 3-D images viewable without special glasses) by using the technology in Nintendo’s 3DS hand-held video game system. .
Seijiro Tomita (the founder of Tomita Technologies) spent 30 years working at Sony as an engineer/inventor, and has been listed as an inventor/co-inventor for almost 70 patents from across the globe. Tomita’s attorneys expressed satisfaction with the ruling, stating “”We are thankful to the jurors for their diligence and hard work . . . . It has been a honor to represent Mr. Tomita and to protect his invention.”
Nintendo, however, isn’t ready to throw in the towel Soon after the verdict, the company released a statement which said: “Nintendo is confident that the result will be set aside . . . . Nintendo has a history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others.” Nintendo maintains that the adverse verdict would not affect the company’s sale of the 3DS gaming system.