A federal judge in East Texas has given Nintendo of America an ultimatum: Stop selling three types of Wii and GameCube controllers that infringe on a Tyler company's patents, or put a portion of sales in escrow to keep the devices on store shelves.

U.S. District Judge Ron Clark also ordered Nintendo to pay $21 million in damages and $2 million in prejudgment interest to Anascape Ltd., which says it developed motion technology that's a part of the controllers.

Judge Clark's ruling addresses the nationwide sale of the Wii Classic controller, along with two controllers the company no longer sells: the wired GameCube controller and the wireless WaveBird controller.

The decision Wednesday is the culmination of a nearly two-year legal battle that initially included Microsoft as a defendant alongside Nintendo. Microsoft, which sells the Xbox 360, settled with Anascape.

A federal jury ruled in favor of Anascape over Nintendo in May.

Nintendo will post bond and appeal the ruling in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which hears all U.S. patent infringement appeals.

"Nintendo is free to continue selling the Wii Classic controller," Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta said in a written statement.

Anascape, founded by the inventor of the technology in the patents, does not manufacture any products, says its lawyer, Doug Cawley of Dallas-based McKool Smith. The company licenses the disputed patents to Sony and Microsoft.

Anascape may make its own third-party controllers for the Wii and other video game systems, Mr. Cawley said.

The U.S. Circuit of Court of Appeals tends to dismiss cases in which plaintiffs don't manufacture or license products, said John Allison, professor at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, so Anascape's licensing deals give it a boost.