Nintendo and Philips sort out their Wii U patent dispute

Nintendo and Philips have settled their patent dispute over the Wii motion controller technology.

Back in May Philips tried to get the Wii U banned from sale in the US after claiming the console infringed several of its patents. Philips said Nintendo copied technology that replicates a user's real-life actions in-game.

A second infringement concerned user interfaces designed to be navigated by a pointing device, such as a Wii Remote.

Then, in June, Nintendo lost a UK court battle over the patents. It appealed the decision as it promised to do all it could to keep its consoles on shop shelves.

Now, Nintendo and Philips have sealed a deal to cross-license portions of each other's patent portfolios - and Philips has agreed to end its patent infringement proceedings against Nintendo in Germany, Britain, France and the US.

"We are pleased to have reached agreement with Philips, as it demonstrates that both companies recognize the importance of intellectual property rights," said Martina Franke, European General Counsel of Nintendo of Europe.

"Nintendo has a substantial IP portfolio and a long history of developing innovative products while respecting valid intellectual property rights of others."

Both Nintendo and Philips declined to reveal the financial terms of the license agreement, but the upshot is the Mario maker is now free to sell its Wii U this Christmas without worry.