Nintendo’s Wii controller is the latest target on the patent infringement lawsuits list this year. The author of the accusations, a company called Hillcrest Labs, says the Wii motion sensing controller infringes four of their patents, and asks the International Trade Commission (ITC) to stop the import of Wii consoles in the United States, while at the same time requesting unspecified monetary damages.

Hillcrest Lab offered the following statement: “While Hillcrest Labs has a great deal of respect for Nintendo and the Wii, Hillcrest Labs believes that Nintendo is in clear violation of its patents and has taken this action to protect its intellectual property rights.”

The company filed the patent infringement lawsuit with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington DC, along with a separate patent infringement suit in the U.S. District in Maryland, both against Nintendo Corp. and related to the Wii video game system, Hillcrest Labs said.

The patents brought into question are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,158,118, 7,262,760, and 7,414,611, related to “a handheld three-dimensional pointing device,” as well as U.S. Patent No. 7,139,983, concerning “a navigation interface display system that graphically organizes content for display on a television.”

Hillcrest Labs is responsible for introducing The Loop to the U.S. market, a ring-shaped remote controller that enables consumers to interact with digital media on television by using motion-control and pointing techniques.

According to Rockville-based company, the company holds 29 patents worldwide in this field, and has filed for more than 100 related patents. Leading consumer electronics companies, whose names have not been disclosed, have already licensed Hillcrest’s technology for use in their products, Hillcrest Labs said.

The company refused to provide further details given the current status of the filing. Nintendo was not available for comments regarding the lawsuit.