The Nintendo Switch has been out for over a year and it has been quite the success story for the Japanese gaming giant, thanks to high-profile games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, but also because of its hybrid nature made possible by the dock and the detachable Joy-Con controllers.
But Gamevice, a gaming smartphone accessory maker, doesn"t believe that the idea of detachable controllers like Nintendo"s Joy-Con is all that new. So much so that it sued the company last August over patent infringement related to the controllers. According to CNET, the case would be voluntarily dropped by Gamevice later that year, but it seems that the company isn"t done with its complaints.
The United States International Trade Commission has announced that it will be looking into "certain portable gaming console systems with attachable handheld controllers and components" made by Nintendo, following a complaint by Gamevice claiming that the import of the Nintendo Switch into American territory infringes on its patents.
This isn"t the first time that the Japanese console maker has been the target of complaints recently, as last week we reported that the company was being investigated for its non-compliant practices on the Nintendo eShop platform.
Neither Nintendo nor Gamevice have made any comment regarding the situation, but it"s unlikely that the Switch will be affected by the investigation.