A company called Impulse Technology has filed suit against Microsoft and several game companies over the Kinect hardware and software, claiming that the controller-free motion tracking violates its patents for "System and method for tracking and assessing movement skills in multidimensional space," and "Education system challenging a subject's physiologic and kinesthetic systems to synergistically enhance cognitive function."

Microsoft is named for its Kinect hardware, of course, but other companies are included in the suit because they made games that use the Kinect to track body movements.

According to Patent Arcade, Impulse is seeking not just money, but a permanent injunction -- which, were it to go through, would force Kinect hardware and software to be shelved in the US.