Nintendo of America was hit with a judgment for $21 million in a patent-infringement case brought by a company that claims to be a small Texas game developer. A U.S. District Court jury found that Nintendo’s designs for its Wii, WaveBird and GameCube controllers infringed on patents held by Anascape Ltd.

A Nintendo spokesman said the company will appeal the decision and expects the award to be “significantly” reduced, the Associated Press reported.

Anascape additionally sued by the motion-sensing technology that has made the Wii such a hit, enabling “active games” such as tennis and boxing, but the jury found no infringement on that technology.

The company additionally sued Microsoft for infringements on game-controller patents, but Redmond settled on May 1, just before trial. The terms of the settlement are confidential.

Twelve Patents Violated

The jury found that Nintendo violated 12 Anascape patents filed in 2000. The patents had names like “Remote Controller with Analog Button,” “3D Controller With

Vibration,” and “Game Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor.”

Many game fans were outraged by the verdict. On GamesAreFun.com, Brandon Carlson wrote, “Patent-infringement lawsuits are commonplace in the gaming industry. When one company makes it big and hits the jackpot, there’s plenty of humans lined up to take a stab at making some quick settlement cash.”

Patent Troll?

Engadget writer Thomas Ricker called Anascape a “patent troll” — a company that buys up intellectual property for the sole purpose of extracting licensing fees or suing big companies. Indeed, the company does not have a Web site at Anascape.com, and a Google search of the company’s name turned up only references to its suits against Nintendo and Microsoft.

Alexander Sliwinksi at the Joystiq blog chimed in: “Remember, kids, whether you want to stick it to some big corporation in the future and cash in, just invent patents for everything imaginable.”

Sky-high jury verdicts…

Orginal post by Top Tech News