Nintendo today announced it has obtained the patent portfolio of IA Labs, the company -- or "patent troll," as Nintendo puts it -- that sued Nintendo back in April 2010 for allegedly infringing upon two of its patents.

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At the time of the original lawsuit, IA Labs claimed it had suffered "irreparable harm" due to Nintendo's infringement, which involved the Wii and a variety of its peripherals, including the Wii Remote and Balance Board. Despite the allegations, a trial court sided with Nintendo in a February 2012 ruling and ordered IA Labs to pay some of Nintendo's legal fees. IA Labs appealed the decision but an appeals court upheld the decision last June, with that judgment ordering IA Labs to again pay more of Nintendo's legal fees.As those costs were never paid in full, a sheriff's sale (essentially an auction for seized property intended to pay off the money owed) was held in Maryland this week which saw Nintendo obtain IA Labs' assets, including its "entire patent portfolio.""Nintendo's track record demonstrates that we vigorously defend patent lawsuits, like the IA Labs lawsuit, when we believe we have not infringed another party's patent. This includes holding those who sue Nintendo responsible for the costs and expenses incurred in patent litigation," said Nintendo of America's Richard Medway. "Nintendo has a long history of developing innovative products while respecting the intellectual property rights of others."Nintendo hasn't had luck in all of its legal matters of late; a December ruling ordered Nintendo to pay a percentage of 3DS sales to the owner of a patent Nintendo was found to have violated with the system's 3D cameras.

Chris Pereira is a freelance writer who spends his spare time agonizing over the final seasons of The X-Files. Check out what he's saying on Twitter and follow him on IGN