Peripheral powerhouse Nyko is being sued by console powerhouse Nintendo. Nyko has walked the fine line of licensing, trademark and patent infringement for years. Most companies have been lenient with products until now. The lawsuit comes on the heels of the creation of the Kama Nunchuck. I did attempt to contact a Nyko representative, to no avail. Only one comment was released.
"We have not knowingly violated anyone's intellectual property and we're still examining this," states C.C. Swiney.
Nyko was blamed in the past for aiding in the overheating of the Xbox 360 by Microsoft but no lawsuits have been filed of this magnitude. I have used many Nyko products and some of them are great, such as the charging kits, but for controllers and peripherals I always go with the originals for obvious reasons.
I honestly do not see that close a reproduction of the product, no more than usual but it is in fact close enough to give Nintendo cause for concern. I guess the minor cosmetic changes and the addition of the 'C' in the name were not enough of a departure from the original in the eyes of Nintendo execs. My biggest question would be, why now? Nyko has created peripherals before for Nintendo consoles, so why now? My guess is because of the strength of the sales with the Wii and the uniqueness of their new controllers. Could also be that the Kama Nunchuck from Nyko is wireless and the Wii Nunchuk is not. Hmmm... Nintendo does have a claim to the intellectual property that went into creating the product. To date, the product is still on their website and there is no mention of the suit.
Nunchuck v. Nunchuk - You Decide
It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the courts. Nintendo is currently asking for a cease and desist of the product manufacturing and monetary compensation. I will have to keep you posted on the developments of this one.
