Nintendo hit with its first lawsuit over the Switch’s design

Hard to say, really. Nintendo obviously has had the idea for the Switch in mind for a very long time, as evidenced by the existence of the Wii U. Nintendo took a lot of inspiration from that console with the core design of the Switch, and it started designing the Wii U as early as 2012. That’s about the same time Gamevice started developing the Wikipad, but with 3D in mind rather than the device it would ultimately become.

The Wikipad also had no intention on being played on a television, which the Switch does have, and where as the Wikipad is a controller shell that you can slip a tablet into, the Switch is a tablet with controllers that attach onto the side.

But again, who knows? The technicalities of patent and trademark law are way too convoluted and technical to draw any early conclusions.  This is just something we’ll have to wait and watch as time goes by.

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/08/14/switch-design-lawsuit/