NEW YORK -- A federal judge has upheld a jury award of $208.3 million
against Japan's Nintendo and its U.S. unit for violating a 1977 video-game
patent on bit mapping held by Alpex Computer Corp., a non-defunct Colorado
company.

Judge Kimba Wood of the U.S. District Court in New York also ordered
Nintendo to pay interest on the award that she calculated could amount to
at least $55.6 million as well as additional damages. The money is to go
to the creditors of Alpex, which is being liquidated in federal bankruptcy
court in Denver.

Nintendo has denied any infringement on the Alpex patent and has indicated
that it will file an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit in Washington D.C.

Alpex had first filed suit in 1986 alleging Nintendo had copied the Alpex
technology in its eight-bit Nintendo Entertainment System.

In another Nintendo case, on November 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit upheld a judgement in favor of Nintendo against an importer
of counterfeit video-game software. In a precedent-setting decision, the
court held that Nintendo was entitled to monetary damages for both
copyright and trademark infringement resulting from the sale of
counterfeit video-game cartridges. Nintendo will recover more than
$450,000 from the decision.

The case was first filed in 1990 to stop George Sheng and his company,
Dragon Pacific International, from importing and distributing counterfeit
video games that were compatible with the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The cartridges were imported from Taiwan and China. Sheng advertised and
sold the cartridges as authentic Nintendo products.

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