Nintendo’s attempt to get out of paying Texas-based Anascape for a patent infringement lawsuit was snuffed out today, as a Texas District Court upheld the original decision that will force Nintendo to shell out $21 million.

The original lawsuit was based on patents Anascape holds, which they say were infringed upon for Nintendo’s Wii Classic, WaveBird and Gamecube controllers; the standard Wii Remote and Nunchuck pairing are not a part of the suit. Anascape demanded $21 million in damages, a figure which the court agreed with and decided to grant in full.

For its part, Nintendo appealed the case in the hopes of "significantly" reducing the amount they were to pay Anascape, but that hope was crushed with the court’s decision to deny their motion for a reduced verdict. The appeals court stated that "the jury’s award is supported by the evidence," and found no reason to cut Nintendo any slack.

The court’s decision puts some sting into what has otherwise been a couple great years for Nintendo as they ride the success of the Wii and DS all the way through the current console generation. While $21 million won’t break the company (far from it), it’s still a hefty enough sum that they’ll likely be more careful in the future about stealing someone else’s work. Just like they always taught you in school,:if you copy someone else’s paper, you’re going to end up getting burned.