Nintendo in patent soup again, this time it’s Hillcrest

Rockville, Maryland-based Hillcrest Laboratories, a US tech company, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Maryland against Nintendo alleging that the Wii's motion-sensing controller and software infringes on Hillcrest patents related to the technologies.

In the complaint filed on August 19, 2008, Hillcrest claims that the Nintendo’s Wiimote infringes on three of their patents 7,158,118, 7,262,760, and 7,414,611, which relate to a handheld three-dimensional pointing device.

A fourth Hillcrest patent, 7,139,983, which relates to a navigation interface display system that graphically organizes content for display on a television screens is also alleged to have been violated, the company claims.

"While Hillcrest Labs has a great deal of respect for Nintendo and the Wii, Hillcrest Labs believes that Nintendo is in clear violation of its patents and has taken this action to protect its intellectual property rights,” the company marked in a statement

Apart from financial damages, the filing seeks a total ban on Wii consoles imported to the U.S.

However, claiming that the company hasn’t been served with any lawsuit or action by Hillcrest, Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta declined to comment.

Earlier this year, in another patent infringement lawsuit against Nintendo, a jury in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas awarded Anascape Ltd. of Tyler, Texas, $21 million. The court ruled that Nintendo violated several patents related to its Wii Classic controller. However, Nintendo appealed against the verdict in July.