The legal dispute between Palworld and Nintendo continues. In 2024, Nintendo sued Pocketpair, the developer behind Palworld. Nintendo claims: Palworld infringed patent rights. Pocketpair counters this, even citing other games and mods as arguments.
What is the current status? In September 2024, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer behind Palworld, in Japan. This primarily concerns patent rights violations. In May 2024, Nintendo filed 24 patents in the USA.
It is now known that some of Nintendo’s claimed patent rights have been granted in the USA. However, Pocketpair is not taking this lying down. They are defending themselves in Japan, citing other games and mods.
Pocketpair argues with other games and mods
Which patents are concerning Palworld? Pocketpair challenges the patents that mainly revolve around mechanics familiar from Pokémon:
- JP7545191 (The capturing of characters by battling characters or capturing with balls) –
- JP7493117 (Another patent related to capturing characters)
- JP7528390 (The simple switching of a mount).
How is Pocketpair defending itself? Gamesfray.com had an intellectual property lawyer review the current case files in Tokyo. The website summarizes Pocketpair’s arguments in an article, with which the Japanese studio defends itself against Nintendo’s patent lawsuit. This concerns three alleged patent infringements.
Pocketpair argues that their behavior does not constitute a patent infringement and speaks to the general process of game development. Typically, various elements that already existed are deliberately and unconsciously combined in development. Pocketpair argues that most players and industry actors do not want individual game elements to be patented.
They say that Nintendo’s patents should never have been granted because there were already games that used mechanics that Nintendo later patented. To underscore their argument, Pocketpair cites various games as well as mods:
The biggest reference was, according to gamesfray.com, Craftopia (the previous game from Pocketpair), Pocket Souls (a mod for Dark Souls 3), and Ark: Survival Evolved. Other titles mentioned included:
- The Legend of Zelda
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- Pokémon Sword and Shield
- Final Fantasy 14
- Tomb Raider
- Far Cry 5
- Monster Super League
- Pixelmon (A mod for Minecraft)
- Pikmin 3 Deluxe
- Rune Factory 5
- Titanfall 2
- Path of Exile
- Octopath Traveler
- Dragon Quest Builders
- Nexomon
- NukaMon (A mod for Fallout 4)
- Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
- ArcheAge
- Riders of Icarus
Regarding their own Nintendo games, game fray explains: Among the games that Pocketpair declared invalid are also some Nintendo titles, but that’s how patent law works (the company’s own releases can be used against those applying for patents)
The legal dispute between Pocketpair and Nintendo seems likely to continue for a while longer, especially due to the complex patent law that differs across various countries. Depending on how the lawsuit turns out, it could have a significant impact on the gaming industry. Another company previously patented an innovative mechanic: One of the best mechanics in gaming was only used twice, and now Warner Bros. has killed it
