SEGA once tried to block Nintendo from releasing games that included 'viewpoint change'

Did you know that SEGA managed to secure a patent on the idea of 'viewpoint change' in a game? In SEGA's classic game Virtua Racing, you had the option to hit a button on the arcade cabinet and change the viewpoint. SEGA sought out a patent for this idea and actually secured it. Then SEGA set out to stop other companies from releasing games that allowed you to change your viewpoint with the press of a button. Nintendo games were targeted especially, but Nintendo fought back saying that SEGA's patent was invalid.

Turns out there was already a game that existed long before Virtua Racing that had used the idea of viewpoint change. That title was Star Wars: Attack on the Death Star, created by Mikito Ichikawa. Mr. Ichikawa took the stand during trial and helped win the case for Nintendo.

My company released a game called Star Wars: Attack on the Death Star, and this was the first game in Japan to include a viewpoint change feature. Sega acquired a patent on viewpoint change, but it was invalidated in a dispute filed by Nintendo and Sony. Sega was originally granted the patent, and they used it to issue injunctions against the sale of certain Nintendo games. But Nintendo counter-argued that Sega's patent was invalid. My company's game was the first instance of the technology, so I cooperated with Nintendo, and testified that the Sega patent was bogus.

I never received any compensation from Nintendo, nor any apologies from Sega. Had I not cooperated, Sega could have successfully prevented Nintendo from releasing some of their games, and written their own version of videogame history. When this is how originality is treated, how are original games supposed to get made? The Japanese industry is not producing original games anymore, and the rest of the world is laughing at us. It's because of situations like this happening in the background.