The Wave Race brand name is not the only thing that Nintendo has moved to protect with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) recently.
On 10th October 2016, German patent attorney firm Bardehle Pagenberg Partnershaft filed a registered community design (RCD) application with the EUIPO, for what looks to be a U-Shaped controller. This has since been registered and fully published on 7th November 2016, which means that we can now see the file information publicly on the EUIPO website.
An RCD lasts for five years but can be chosen to be renewed four times to protect a patent for as long as 25 years, in which time the owner may sell, license or renew their patented concept.
This isn’t the first time that we have seen such concept, with Nintendo having filed a similar patent application with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) back in April. That application openly discussed the product’s role as an exercise gaming device, presumably resulting from the company’s explorative work in developing Quality Of Life products rather than any expectation that it is anything related to Nintendo Switch.
