Nintendo sued over 3DS tech

Nintendo is facing a lawsuit from a former Sony inventor who claims that he owns the patent to glasses-free 3D technology.

The inventor, Seijiro Tomita, originally sued Nintendo in 2011, and his lawyer claims that Tomita is entitled to $9.80 for every 3DS that has been sold.

There have been 29.84 million 3DSs sold (as of 31 December 2012), so crunching the numbers on the MyGaming abacus, that accumulates to $292.43 million (around R2.6 billion)

Tomita’s lawyer says that Tomita showed the prototype of his technology to Nintendo back in 2003, and some of the people he showed it to went on to be part of the 3DS design team.

“He actually felt betrayed and hurt that they were using his technology,” Diamante said.

Nintendo’s defence is that Tomita’s claims are without merit, and that the company doesn’t use any of Tomita’s key aspects in the 3DS design.

Whether Tomita’s claims will hold steady remains to be seen.