Nintendo is suing Pocket Pair in Japan, the developer of the survival hit Palworld. Since 2024, the company has been trying to establish a basis for a lawsuit in the USA, which is now becoming increasingly likely with new patents.
What has happened so far? Palworld was released in January 2024 in Early Access on Steam. Almost immediately, speculation arose within the community as to whether the game might be too similar to Nintendo’s Pokémon series and whether Nintendo would sue the developer Pocket Pair.
In September 2024, Nintendo actually filed a lawsuit against Palworld in Japan. The lawsuit alleges that Palworld infringes Nintendo’s patents, some of which Nintendo had only filed after the release of Palworld.
Recently, there was an update on the situation in February 2025: As early as May 2024, Nintendo had filed a total of 24 patents in the USA, of which two were ultimately granted. Now there is information that Nintendo is being granted additional patents.
Nintendo patents landing flying mounts
What new information is there? By now, Nintendo has managed to secure two more patents:
The first is the U.S. Patent No. 12.246.255 (download via games fray). This was apparently filed back in September 2022 and has since been adjusted multiple times by Nintendo. Specifically, this patent refers to the mechanic of switching from a flying object to one that moves on the ground.
The second patent is U.S. Patent Application No. 18/652.883. Here too, it appears to concern similar functions as in No. 12.246.255. On March 4, 2025, Nintendo adjusted the patent application (Download via games fray) and filed a disclaimer on March 20 (Download via games fray).
games fray suspects that the two patents were too similar and the second was not approved as duplicate patents are not allowed. After the amendments on March 4 and 20, however, the status of Patent No. 18/652.883 was set to Approved – Grant Notice not yet sent
on April 1.
Accordingly, the fourth Nintendo patent has also been granted in the USA.
Will Nintendo sue in the USA?
What could happen next? Nintendo has now secured four patents in the USA that they could use to focus on Palworld. If Nintendo can refer to more patents, the basis for a lawsuit will continue to grow.
Unfortunately, it is not clear whether Nintendo has applied for additional patents in the USA or whether they are revising previously rejected ones. Furthermore, it is not known whether Nintendo is generally interested in a lawsuit against Pocket Pair in the USA, even though the patent registrations suggest so.
As soon as there is concrete new information in the lawsuit between Pocket Pair and Nintendo, you can read it on MeinMMO. By the way, Palworld is continually receiving further updates – despite the lawsuit. Recently, there was crossplay across all platforms, a global Palbox, and more. You can read what was included in the patch here.
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