Nintendo has finally secured a court ruling awarding damages for patent infringement concerning the Nintendo Wii controller, bringing a marathon 15-year legal saga to a close.

On the 16th, Nintendo announced its victory in a long-standing patent dispute in Germany. The German court ordered peripheral manufacturer Bigben Interactive (now Nacon) to pay approximately 7 million Euros (roughly 12.1 billion KRW) in damages for infringing upon Nintendo Wii controller patents.

The dispute traces back to 2010, centering on the ergonomic design and technology of the Wii Remote, including its accelerometer. The Mannheim Regional Court first ruled in 2011 that Bigben had infringed on the patent, a decision later upheld by the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court in 2017. Despite Bigben's repeated attempts to invalidate the patent via the European Patent Office, the courts remained steadfast in their recognition of Nintendo’s intellectual property.

While it seemed the case had reached a conclusion in July 2011, the process of calculating damages dragged on for over seven years. Nacon’s procedural stalling, including requests for new court-appointed experts, only added to the delay. Consequently, the German court imposed a hefty interest rate—base rate plus 5%—causing the original 2011 valuation of 4 million Euros to balloon significantly.

The court justified the damage calculation by noting that Nacon’s sales directly cannibalized Nintendo’s potential revenue. Although Nacon argued that consumers would have simply purchased third-party controllers anyway, the court countered that other products in the market were also likely infringing on the patent. Thus, the judges proceeded on the assumption that every unit Nacon sold would have otherwise been a Nintendo sale.

Meanwhile, Nacon has filed an appeal against this ruling with the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court. It seems we will be waiting a while longer before this legal drama reaches its final act.