Palworld is currently facing criticism from some players. The Steam hit is said to have stolen from Pokémon. We asked the well-known lawyer Christian Solmecke if and what basis there would be for Nintendo to successfully sue Palworld.
Why is Palworld in discussion? Palworld is a successful game that was released on Steam in January 2024 and is regarded as “Pokémon with guns.”
However, the game is criticized by some players precisely because of the strong similarity to the well-known pocket monsters. The creators are accused of simply throwing the designs of familiar Pokémon into their own game with minor changes. You can read more about the discussions here.
This inevitably raises the question of whether Nintendo could successfully sue Palworld. MeinMMO asked lawyer Christian Solmecke whether Nintendo could take legal action against the Steam game. We wanted to know:
- whether there would be a basis for Nintendo to successfully sue Palworld
- what exactly Nintendo would need to sue for
- what would need to be the case for Palworld to actually violate the copyright of Pokémon/Nintendo
Christian Solmecke specializes in internet and media law and works as a lawyer and partner at the Cologne law firm WBS.LEGAL. Previously, he worked as a journalist, including at the Westdeutschen Rundfunk.
He also runs a YouTube channel with his law firm and gained fame as the “internet lawyer.” In his videos, he often addresses current topics in the area of internet and gaming and answers legal questions.
“The copyright could become the most important issue here”
This is what Christian Solmecke replied: “Nintendo has several protection rights with respect to similarities, based on which it could take action against Palworld. While we can only assess this under German law, there are similar protection rights in the USA as well.
The most important issue here could be copyright (in the USA, copyright). It arises automatically in Europe with the act of creation and includes, for example, the visual design of characters or the game. If another game then adopts significant parts of it, this could violate copyrights. Here, warning letters and lawsuits for injunctions and damages come into consideration. The difference in US copyright is that it must first be registered there. However, this should be the case here.
Then there may also be violations of design and/or trademark rights. Here, in the EU, it also depends on whether, for example, the design of a character or other defining game features is registered or whether Nintendo has secured trademark rights, for example, to a character. Anyone who attaches themselves to that can also be warned and sued.
Finally, in Germany, taking action based on competition law (§ 4 No. 3 Act Against Unfair Competition) is also conceivable if a competitor, for example, unfairly exploits the value of the imitated goods.”
Thus, Nintendo could (under German law) indeed sue against the “Pokémon with guns.” So far, however, there has been no lawsuit from the Pokémon creators against Palworld.
However, Nintendo is known for rigorously defending its brand legally. For example, fan projects have already been shut down or developers sued.
For example, the video game manufacturer also shut down a project in which an artist wanted to create hand-painted guides for several Nintendo games: Artist collects 270,000 euros for hand-painted guides – Nintendo sues, shuts down the project
