On Sunday, April 24, 2016, federal Judge Jed Rakoff in New York ruled that the Nintendo 3DS does not infringe a patent on 3D display technology originally asserted against Nintendo by plaintiffs Tomita Technologies USA, Inc. and Tomita Technologies International, Inc. in 2011.
Judge Rakoff’s ruling follows Nintendo’s successful appeal of an earlier verdict, and is the result of a 2015 re-trial. This decision fully reverses and corrects a 2013 verdict against Nintendo. Specifically, Judge Rakoff found that the Nintendo 3DS performs in a significantly different way and does more than was contemplated by the Tomita patent.
“We are very pleased with the court’s finding that Nintendo does not infringe,” said Ajay Singh, Nintendo of America’s Director of Litigation and Compliance. “Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products, and we aggressively defend patent lawsuits when our products do not infringe, even when we must do it over many years and through multiple trials.”