Reeling from the decision of a Texas judge, Nintendo may have to cease production of the Wii Classic, GameCube, and Wavebird controllers. The judgment comes after Nintendo lost a $21 million dollar case aimed at defeating charges of patent infringement. The Judge in the case ordered that Nintendo must begin paying royalties or face having production of the popular controllers banned. The situation may be put on hold as Nintendo files an appeal.

While the GameCube and Wavebird controllers have long since fallen out of production with their respective console, the Classic Controller has been a popular and often necessary accessory for the popular Nintendo Wii. The infringement issue stems from apparent violations of patents put forward by Anascape, regarding button configurations that Nintendo apparently used without permission. Nintendo fought back, denying any connection to Anascape's designs. The court, however, disagreed.

Whether this will adversely affect the Wii cannot yet be determined. The popular console recently reached a benchmark in the United States, taking first place in the number of units sold at 10.9 million against the popular Xbox 360. At the moment, the Classic Controller is still on the market pending an appeal, but it can be said with some level of certainty that losing rights to sell the Classic Controller would be a significant blow to Nintendo.