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A federal court has ordered Nintendo of America to pay $21 million in fine to Anascape Ltd. for patent infringement related to the Wii and GameCube video game hardware.

The Anascape Ltd. filed lawsuit in 2006 claiming that Nintendo’s use of analog technology in their remote game controllers constitutes a violation of their patents. Microsoft is also named in the lawsuit, for the same reasons.
According to the details the company infringed on Anascape’s patent in designs for the Wii Classic Controller, Wavebird controller, and GameCube controller.

No patent infrigement was found in Nintendo’s motion sensitive Wii Remote or Nunchuk controllers. New peripheral sold for the Wii include the Wii Wheel and the Wii Balance Board for Wii Fit.

The GameCube which released in 2001 included a colorful controller. A wireless Wavebird controller was sold seperately.

Wii was released in 2006 and has become a mass market phenomenon by employing low barrier-to-entry game titles and motion-based play. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3.

Last month Nintendo posted a net profit increase of 47.7 percent to $2.5 billion. Sales gained 73 percent to $16.2 billion.

Nintendo spokesman was not available to comment although it is highly likely that they will appeal the judgement.