PalWorld Update! Nintendo's Lawsuit hits a SNAG!

[DerVVulfman]

Nintendo's Anti-Palworld Patent Assault Hits A Snag As USPTO Rejects 22 Of 23 Filings

by Alan Velasco (of HotHardware.Com) - Friday, February 14, 2025

Palworld was one of the surprise hits of 2024, capturing gamer zeitgeist by delivering a familiar experience with a fun twist. However, this success also caught the attention of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company, leading to both of those companies filing a lawsuit against Palworld developers, Pocketpair. Now there’s a newly added wrinkle that might have a big impact on the legal battle.

 

In the lawsuit filed last year, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company claimed that “Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights.” Now, these claims may be null and void after a decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office landed a big blow to the case the two plaintiffs were making against Pocketpair.

The agency has rejected 22 of the 23 patent applications filed by Nintendo that form the basis of the lawsuit, after finding that they did not meet the criteria to be considered new or based on any kind of invention. Additionally, the one patent the agency is willing to grant Nintendo will only be granted if the company agrees to the rejection of the other 22. Only having 1 patent claim is enough to continue with a lawsuit, but companies typically like having multiple infringements when going into this kind of case.

 

Of course, Nintendo is notoriously litigious and there will be an opportunity for the company to get this decision reversed. It’s highly likely the company will flex its legal muscles to appeal the decision and try and get all these patents approved. Although, this at least gives Pocketpair more time to prepare its legal defense.

 

This will be an interesting case to keep an eye on, as it could have a massive impact on the gaming industry. Video games are often highly iterative experiences that build on ideas that show up in other games. If Nintendo is successful, the legal precedence set in this case might greatly restrict future types of games that are made and released.

[Remi-chan]

My response to this news:

Some important things to note, however. This only applies to the Nintendo Branch in America. The Japanese case last I heard is still ongoing and is somewhat riskier as that is where the devs of Palworld actually live and so does the game.

That said, Nintendo doesn't have a great track record of issuing patents such as this, they only got away with it with their SNES controllers due to that the idea for the time was actually original.

This patent in particular is likely not going to land, they'd also turn a large part of the corporate world against them which is heat Nintendo hardly needs given how much they are starting to fall off.

They do have something of an advantage in the Japanese courts due to proximity and them doing things like this in the past, Nintendo are absolutely fucking bullies and always have been, just like most AAA game industry corporations.

But very few have tried to claim ownership of a mechanic in a video game, especially not one so popular as monster-capturing or the like. This is a powergaming move by a company who thinks it deserves to own ideas, when it can barely fucking come up with original ideas to save its life.

Valve could be petty and patent Garry's mod mechanics and basically fuck over Nintendo on a lawsuit for TOTK but Valve aren't that fucking stupid, pathetic or desperate.

You'll notice Nintendo has widely avoided pissing off other big Triple A studios, reason being they wont pick a fight they think they cant win and that could actively be turned against them, thankfully the community for Palworld is also THEIR community, the community they have endlessly underwhelmed with an unwillingness to innovate, who got tired of their bullshit and found what they were seeking in Palworld.

So more than anything, Nintendo has actively turned a large portion of its community against it and incensed their critics (such as myself) even further.

They really do be speedrunning becoming the worlds most loved video game studio to being one of its most hated.

Think Unity still holds that record but good god do they have competition now!

[Demos "Rise Evil" Kerrigan]

Silly Nintendo of America, thinking they could win on North America. However... the lawsuit in Japan is not over yet and Japan tends to side pretty easily with Nintendo. Even the Japanese commoners side with the corporate. However, if Nintendo wins in Japan, Pocket Pair's headquarter (in Japan) will still be sanctioned, so they'll probably forced to move out and migrate their office outside Japan.

Let's wait and see...

[DerVVulfman]

Oh, this is SO gonna suck for Nintendo... 

Palworld developers challenge Nintendo's patents

using examples from Zelda, ARK: Survival, Tomb Raider, Titanfall 2 and many more huge titles

More info unfolds directly from the Tokyo District Court, and many games are named in the patent infringement suit

Hot news in the defense of Pocketpair just emerged in regards to the ongoing patent infringement dispute between the developer and Nintendo over popular Xbox Game Pass game, Palworld.

Thanks to the incredible investigative work of GamesFray, a platform specializing in gaming legal matters, we now have a detailed look at Pocketpair’s defenses in the Japan-specific patent infringement case, direct from the Tokyo District Court.

These findings shed light on Pocketpair’s strategy on countering Nintendo’s claims and could have significant ramifications for the gaming industry.

It's often argued that many of the patents Nintendo are going after Pocketpair for infringing are for game mechanics used in a plethora of other games, and this seems to be the exact tact that the Palworld developers are taking. We now have all the games so far named in the lawsuit, and some of them may surprise you.

Pocketpair are challenging Nintendo’s patents by pointing to prior art — existing games and technologies that allegedly contain similar mechanics that Nintendo has not also challenged.

The argument here is that these patents should not have been granted to Nintendo in the first place, because the claimed mechanics were already in use.

Pocketpair references a wide range of games, including Craftopia (their own title), ARK: Survival Evolved, Rune Factory 5, and even Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda.

Mods like Pixelmon for Minecraft and Nukamon for Fallout 4 are also part of their defense, so even user-made mods have been listed in their defence.

Here's the full list of games stated in the case, as painstakingly listed by GamesFray.

• Craftopia, released by Pocketpair in 2021
  
• Pocket Souls (a Dark Souls 3 mod released in 2020)
  
• Ark: Survival Evolved, or ARK released by Studio Wildcard in 2017; partly in combination with a Pokémon mod
  
• The Legend of Zelda, published by Nintendo
  
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus, published by Nintendo
  
• Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, published by Nintendo
  
• Final Fantasy 14 published by Square Enix
  
• Tomb Raider originally created by Core Design
  
• Far Cry 5 published by Ubisoft
  
• Monster Super League, a mobile game by Smart Study Games
  
• Pixelmon mod for Minecraft
  
• Pikmin 3 Deluxe
  
• Rune Factory 5 by Marvelous
  
• Titanfall 2 by Electronic Arts
  
• Path of Exile by Grinding Gear Games
  
• Octopath Traveler by Square Enix
  
• Dragon Quest Builders by Square Enix
  
• Nexomon by VEWO Interactive
  
• NukaMon mod for Fallout 4
  
• Monster Hunter 4G/Ultimate by Capcom
  
• ArcheAge by XL Games
  
• Riders of Icarus by VALOFE
  

In addition to games, Pocketpair have also pointed out the Unity game engine as an example of prior art.

In the above list, Rune Factory 5, Titanfall 2 and Pikmin 3 Deluxe make it easy to see how a player character can perform an action to release a monster or a capture item (like a ball) and fire in a direction by releasing a button. Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Far Cry 5 and Tomb Raider already showed that there can be different types of throwable objects.

Games like Pocket Souls, Octopath Traveler, Monster Super League, and Final Fantasy XIV already show how players can target creatures and get an idea of their chances of capturing them.

Pocketpair argues that combining features from these games makes Nintendo’s patents seem less unique or inventive, which is a requirement under Japanese patent law.

They also point out that Pokémon games have used different success rates for capture items for over 30 years, making this idea far from new. Hey, it's old hat now right?

So they just filed patents for features already used in ALL THESE GAMES?   I am not sure how long their patents will last once this case is resolved.