Nintendo Sued Over Wii Wrist Straps

In a perhaps inevitable move, Nintendo has become the subject of a nationwide class action lawsuit relating to issues with the wrist strap for the Wii remote. The class action suit has been filed by attorneys Green Welling LLP in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington. According to a statement on the company’s website the lawsuit arose “as result of the defective nature of the Nintendo Wii”. Specifically, it is claimed that the wrist straps have been prone to breaking causing the remote “to leave the user’s hand.” The statement does not describe why the strap breaking would cause the remote to be dropped. However it maintains that “Nintendo’s failure to include a remote that is free from defects is in breach of Nintendo’s own product warranty.” The class action lawsuit seeks to enjoin Nintendo from continuing “its unfair or deceptive business practices as it relates to the Nintendo Wii”. The lawsuit also seeks an injunction that requires Nintendo to correct the supposed defect in the Wii remote and to provide a refund to the purchaser “or to replace the defective Wii remote with a Wii remote that functions as it is warranted and intended”. Nintendo has already offered to replace any Wii strap with a new stronger version, which has begun to replace the original versions packaged with the system. According to a previous statement from the company: “Nintendo is not recalling any of the Wii wrist straps for its motion sensitive Wii Remote. There is no problem with the existing wrist strap as long as the Wii Remote is used sensibly and properly in accordance with the guidelines provided by Nintendo.” Referring specifically to the lawsuit, Nintendo has issued a statement indicating that, “We believe the lawsuit to be completely without merit."