It seems to be the new norm in consumer electronics manufacturing - if you start to make money off of a good idea, you’d better stockpile lawyers and money to defend it against patent lawsuits. First Creative vs. the iPod, then Immersion vs. PS3 Rumble, now this. Interlink electronics, creator of those pointers businessfolk use for corporate presentations, is suing Nintendo over the Wiimote and its use of a trigger button, claiming that that Nintendo is infringing on their patent #6,850,221 “Trigger Operated Electronic Device”.

Granted, I’m a bit biased, but it seems to me that there’s absolutely no merit in their claim. Here’s the timeline of events, just to keep things straight:

• September 29, 1996 - Nintendo releases the N-64, featuring a 3-pronged controller with the infamous Z-trigger underneath the anolog stick. Nintendo goes on to sell 32 million consoles worldwide
• 1997 - Interlink files patent for “Trigger Operated Electronic Device”
• February 2005 - Interlink is granted patent for a device that bears resemblance to the Wiimote (see figure at right), including a remote-style shape and a trigger on the underside of the device.
• September 2005 - Nintendo unveils the Wiimote at the Tokyo Games Show

Given that Interlink had no plans to get into the gaming world, and that Nintendo had been using trigger-style technology before Interlink even filed their patent, I find it hard to believe that this case has any leg to stand on.