Law Review - Wii edition
Hey Nonexistent Readers!
It has been too long since my last post, and I have no good reason for that other than I know no one is reading. But I'm going to force myself into updating at least weekly, and then maybe get some people to actually link me.
Nintendo Class Action
I've seen stories on two law suits related to the Wii. The first is a class action suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. over the alleged breach of warranty over the wii strap "malfunctions." The class action seeks legal fees and replacement of the straps. Granted, it was filed prior to Nintendo's recall, but now that Nintendo is replacing all straps for free, this suit seems likely to fail. It is pretty hard to maintain a class action suit as is, and this smacks of trying to get some money out of the Big N. Nintendo did not take too long to respond to the suit. Now, I'm all for corporate responsibility, and for the legal system to provide a method of taking irresponsible corporations to task, but that is not what this class action is attempting.
First, I've now played my Wii for well over 100 hours with over 15 different users and two Wiimotes, and out of all of that, the wiimote has slipped from anyone's grip perhaps three times. I have not had a broken strap yet. These reports of injury and damage fly in the face of my personal experience as well as common sense and Nintendo's warnings. In case you don't have a Wii and continue to see the stories of the Wii problems allow me to explain something. At start up of the Wii, and I mean every single time, there is a warning about the system which refers you to the manual. At the start of every game a screen pops up to remind you to use the wrist strap. Any time you start a game in Wii Sports (the game included with the console) it reminds you to make sure there are no people or objects within your reach. In the first and third example stated above you actually have to hit a button to get past the warning (granted, if you wait long enough on the first example above...perhaps ten minutes or so...it will go to the menu without a button press). I have received at least one email from Nintendo reminding me of the safety precautions one should take when playing Wii. Nintendo has done everything one can reasonably expect a corporation to do to warn the consumer.
I would suggest that the reports of damage from broken straps are highly overblown. My guess is the vast majority of them are fraudulent. I am fairly convinced that most "accidents" such as this one have to be faked. I'll allow that if the Wiimote does fly and hit a screen it will do some damage, but based on my experience, if the Wiimote's strap is used as instructed, that shouldn't happen. I mean, take a look at this.
Okay, okay, let's say for the sake of argument that there is an actual tendency for the strap to break with only slightly greater effort than the games require (not the case in my experience). The lawsuit is seeking an injunction to stop Nintendo from selling a faulty product, and replace the straps. In order for a federal court to issue an injunction, the party seeking relief has to show that the harm is such that it behooves justice to grant the relief and that they are likely to succeed on the merits at trial. So let's grant that every single one of the reports on wiihaveaproblem.com is true. There are maybe a couple hundred reports on the site, and Nintendo has sold close to a million units in North America alone. That means that in reality less than one percent of users have suffered this harm and that would seem to indicate that it would be improper for the injunction to be granted.
Further, Nintendo has taken it upon itself to do what the class action wants it to do. It started replacing the straps on the new shipments less than a month after launch. They also offered to replace your old strap and reminded you to not be an idiot.
Nintendo is doing everything in its power to avoid litigation, and yet this frivolous law suit is filed. I hope the judge throws it out.
The other Nintendo issue is a patent infringement suit. I'm not going to say much about it, since I know very little about patent law. The gist of the problem is a company is claiming that the wiimote's design infringes their patent for an electronic pointing device. Nintendo will probably settle this, because generally speaking patent infringement doesn't actually hinge on the patent itself, but on the claims of harm done. If you want to read more of the claims, go here. Nintendo bought Gyration, the maker of the 3D mouse, but this suit is worth paying attention to.
Alright, talk to you again soon.
It has been too long since my last post, and I have no good reason for that other than I know no one is reading. But I'm going to force myself into updating at least weekly, and then maybe get some people to actually link me.
Nintendo Class Action
I've seen stories on two law suits related to the Wii. The first is a class action suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. over the alleged breach of warranty over the wii strap "malfunctions." The class action seeks legal fees and replacement of the straps. Granted, it was filed prior to Nintendo's recall, but now that Nintendo is replacing all straps for free, this suit seems likely to fail. It is pretty hard to maintain a class action suit as is, and this smacks of trying to get some money out of the Big N. Nintendo did not take too long to respond to the suit. Now, I'm all for corporate responsibility, and for the legal system to provide a method of taking irresponsible corporations to task, but that is not what this class action is attempting.
First, I've now played my Wii for well over 100 hours with over 15 different users and two Wiimotes, and out of all of that, the wiimote has slipped from anyone's grip perhaps three times. I have not had a broken strap yet. These reports of injury and damage fly in the face of my personal experience as well as common sense and Nintendo's warnings. In case you don't have a Wii and continue to see the stories of the Wii problems allow me to explain something. At start up of the Wii, and I mean every single time, there is a warning about the system which refers you to the manual. At the start of every game a screen pops up to remind you to use the wrist strap. Any time you start a game in Wii Sports (the game included with the console) it reminds you to make sure there are no people or objects within your reach. In the first and third example stated above you actually have to hit a button to get past the warning (granted, if you wait long enough on the first example above...perhaps ten minutes or so...it will go to the menu without a button press). I have received at least one email from Nintendo reminding me of the safety precautions one should take when playing Wii. Nintendo has done everything one can reasonably expect a corporation to do to warn the consumer.
I would suggest that the reports of damage from broken straps are highly overblown. My guess is the vast majority of them are fraudulent. I am fairly convinced that most "accidents" such as this one have to be faked. I'll allow that if the Wiimote does fly and hit a screen it will do some damage, but based on my experience, if the Wiimote's strap is used as instructed, that shouldn't happen. I mean, take a look at this.
Okay, okay, let's say for the sake of argument that there is an actual tendency for the strap to break with only slightly greater effort than the games require (not the case in my experience). The lawsuit is seeking an injunction to stop Nintendo from selling a faulty product, and replace the straps. In order for a federal court to issue an injunction, the party seeking relief has to show that the harm is such that it behooves justice to grant the relief and that they are likely to succeed on the merits at trial. So let's grant that every single one of the reports on wiihaveaproblem.com is true. There are maybe a couple hundred reports on the site, and Nintendo has sold close to a million units in North America alone. That means that in reality less than one percent of users have suffered this harm and that would seem to indicate that it would be improper for the injunction to be granted.
Further, Nintendo has taken it upon itself to do what the class action wants it to do. It started replacing the straps on the new shipments less than a month after launch. They also offered to replace your old strap and reminded you to not be an idiot.
Nintendo is doing everything in its power to avoid litigation, and yet this frivolous law suit is filed. I hope the judge throws it out.
The other Nintendo issue is a patent infringement suit. I'm not going to say much about it, since I know very little about patent law. The gist of the problem is a company is claiming that the wiimote's design infringes their patent for an electronic pointing device. Nintendo will probably settle this, because generally speaking patent infringement doesn't actually hinge on the patent itself, but on the claims of harm done. If you want to read more of the claims, go here. Nintendo bought Gyration, the maker of the 3D mouse, but this suit is worth paying attention to.
Alright, talk to you again soon.