Nintendo faces a second patent infringement suit for it’s controllers following a suit filed by a Rockville-based company called Hillcrest Labs.

A couple of weeks back, Nintendo was in court for allegedly infringing on patents belonging to Anascape Inc. All three major console manufacturers were named in the case and while Microsoft and Sony decided to settle out of court, Nintendo’s decision to see the case through to the bitter end saw the company slapped with a bill of 21 million for damages.

Nintendo plans to appeal the decision however if Anascape were to win, the case would not effect the Wiimote, only the Gamecube controller (which isn’t produced anymore) and the Wii Classic controller. This week, Nintendo encounters a lawsut which could see a ruling demanding the company to cease imports of the Wii console to the United States.

Hillcrest Labs says its technology allows users replace the conventional remote they use with their cable boxes with something similar to the Wiimote. In other words, more waving about than pressing buttons. The company claims Nintendo’s Wiimote infringes on Hillcrest patents and filed suit with the International Trade Commission. If the ITC rules in Hillcrest’s favor, it could move to block imports of the Japanese manufacturer’s popular console.

While Nintendo quite readily gave comment regarding last month’s lawsuit (announcing the planned to appeal the ruling), the same spokesperson responded to the Washington Post’s request for comment this time around and said the company didn’t know anything about the suit.

"We have not been served with any lawsuit or other action by Hillcrest and therefore have no comment."

A lot of people might think that this kind of thing is just money grabbing trying to cash in on Nintendo’s success with the Wii, however Hillcrest is not short of cash especially as of late. The company recently licensed its technology to Logitech and back in January announced it had attracted $50 million in venture capital funding.

(Via The Washington Post)