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Wee vs. Wii: Nintendo turns up the heat on avatar lawsuit
- March 21, 2007 12:02 PM PST
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WeeWorld, a UK-based company that had taken Nintendo to court last November over alleged trademark infringement, now seeks to dismiss the suit. Nintendo, however, isn't quite finished with them.
By Eugene Huang
A typical (or not-so-typical) WeeMee
Sometime last year, a European company known as WeeWorld noticed a number of similarities between their trademarked WeeMee avatar service and the Mii avatars currently available on the Nintendo Wii. In fact, the company felt strongly enough about a possible case of infringement that they took Nintendo to court over the issue starting last November. GameSpot reports that the company now wishes to drop the suit, except that Nintendo presently won't let them.
WeeMees, which WeeWorld contends have been available to the online public since 2001, are a means for users to create a two-dimensional cartoonish avatar to represent them on various internet communication programs, such as Skype, AOL Instant Messanger, and Windows Live Messenger. The similarities between WeeMees and "Wii Miis" eventually led to the aforementioned lawsuit, currently being handled by the U.S. court system.
Nintendo's original defense revolved around their assertion that the usage of common words like "me" and "we" were permissible under current trademark laws. Furthermore, they claim that WeeWorld did not actually utilize the WeeMee name until after the Wii and its Mii Channel had been formally announced by Nintendo.
According to GameSpot, the court case came to a halt last month when WeeWorld requested that the U.S. suit be dismissed so that the company could instead focus on a lawsuit based in the United Kingdom, as most of the company's business and resources are contained within the U.K.'s borders. WeeWorld specifically requested a dismissal "without prejudice", meaning that the case could be reopened in the U.S. at any future date.
In response, Nintendo filed an objection to WeeWorld's request last week, stating:
"[I]n the face of disclosure obligations and discovery demands targeted at getting to the bottom of its unsupported claims of 'confusion' and damage, WeeWorld has abruptly asked this Court to let it dismiss this case without prejudice, freeing it from having to reveal the lack of substance to its claims, while allowing it to hold over Nintendo the threat of future US litigation if it is unsuccessful pursuing those claims in European courts, as it now intends."
Additionally, it requests that WeeWorld pay the entirety of its legal fees, amounting to approximately $400,000 USD.
The court's response to this most recent objection is still pending, but we'll update you with any information as soon as it becomes available.
