Apple, Nintendo sued over motion-sensing devices

Apple and Nintendo have been named in a new lawsuit accusing the companies of patent infringement. Filed in the patent-friendly U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, the suit states that the motion-sensing capabilities of the two companies’ devices infringe on a patent held by Triton Tech, entitled “Computer Apparatus Input Device for Three-Dimensional Information.” AppleInsider reports that the patent describes a “mouse” that detects motion on six axes using multiple accelerometers and angular rate sensors. The court filing specifically singles out the iPhone 4 for its use of “acceleration sensors and rotational rate sensors for detecting motion about a particular axis for communication with a computing device,” along with Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus accessory, but implies that other devices may also be in violation.