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Gamevice sues Nintendo for Switch’s Joy-Con controller design

Gamevice, a company that mainly produces peripherals for mobile gaming, has recently filed a lawsuit against Nintendo, accusing the Kyoto company of having infringed a patent in the Joy-Con of Switch.


Do you think the Nintendo Switch is similar to some console or gaming accessory that is or has been on the market for some time? Gamevice believes this, as the company is suing Nintendo with the allegation that Switch’s Joy-Con violates a patent related to Wikipedia controllers. In addition to compensation, the company asks that Nintendo console sales be banned.

Maybe you’ve never heard of Wikipad, after all, the product was anything but less successful. The device was announced in 2012 and released the following year as an Android tablet specially designed for games. Its biggest differential is a dockable joystick that as such turns your tablet into a portable console.

The idea is interesting, but the similarities to the controllers of the Nintendo Switch are not very big there, right? In contrast, Joy-Con is similar to the dockable controllers that Gamevice later released for iPhone and iPad, for example.

Even with some similarities in controllers, the Nintendo Switch follows different purposes. Joy-Con can, for example, function in a decoupled way to the console. In addition, a left Joy-Con can be combined with a right Joy-Con (via Joy-Con Grip) to form a single joystick.

According to Gamevice, the structure of the new Big N hybrid console would closely resemble to that of Wikipad, a product announced in 2012 but later abandoned some time after launch. For this reason, the company not only claims damages but even has interrupted sales of Nintendo Switch.

Gamevice in the meantime claims a money-repayment from Nintendo and stops sales for Switch.

For the time being, Nintendo has not commented on the story, so let’s stay awaiting for further discovery.