Philips and Nintendo Settle, Cross-License for Select Patents

Since May of this year, Philips has been butting heads with Nintendo about an alleged patent infringement and the two companies have just finally reached an agreement.

The patent infringement mess all started in May when Philips filed a suit against Nintendo targeting its motion-control peripherals which included the Wii U and accessories like the Wii remote, Game Informer reports. Unfortunately, in June, NIntendo was on shaky ground after a U.K. court ruled that it would recognize the infringement to hand gestures and motion input. For a platform that Nintendo is putting a lot of time and effort into, this wasn't great news for the company. Nintendo ended up having to pay damages which was valued at three times plus interest.

Now that all of this has been settled, Philips has stated that there will be a cross-license for select patents between the two companies. "We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Nintendo. It demonstrates that both companies recognize the importance of intellectual property rights," Brian Hinman, Chief Intellectual Property Office of Philips has stated. "It also shows the value of our extensive IP portfolio and our commitment to protect our significant investments in research and development."

While the terms of the agreement and financial details won't be disclosed, at least Nintendo will be able to keep selling its consoles.