Following a shocking patent lawsuit filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company against Pokémon game creator Pocketpair, and Pocketpair’s subsequent statement claiming it had no idea which patents it was accused of infringing, analysts believe they have figured out which patent Nintendo intends to apply to win the case.
Kiyoshi Kurihara, a Japanese patent attorney and intellectual property consultant, spoke to Yahoo Japan regarding the lawsuit (transl. Machine) and pointed out a “killer patent” that concerns the Pokémon catching mechanic itself.
“It seems like it’s hard to avoid if you want to make a Pokémon-style game, and if you’re not careful, it’s easy to run afoul of the law,” Kurihara is quoted as saying.
Overall, Palworld’s survival and creation mechanics are more reminiscent of Ark than Pokémon. After Palworld’s huge launch earlier this year, comparisons to Palworld and Pokémon have been made, with some accusing Pocketpair of “ripping off” Pokémon designs. Rather than suing for copyright infringement, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company went the patent route.
Kurihara identified four patent applications that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company jointly registered after the launch of Palworld in January. The divisional patent contains isolated content from the already registered parent patent. Kurihara believes the patent is the focus here, patent no. 7,545,191, describes, per Machine:
Aiming a catchable item (Poké Ball) at a character placed on the field (Pokémon), releasing the catchable item in a direction determined by the player, evaluating whether the catch will be successful or not upon contact between the catchable item and the Pokémon, and changing the status of the Pokémon to “owned by player” when the catch is successful. Additionally, the patent also covers mechanics for displaying the probability of catch to the player, whether using colors, graphics, or numbers.
Patent No. 7,545,191, along with three other related ones, was only approved in August, which may aid explain why Nintendo waited so long to announce the lawsuit. The root patent for the four divisional patents was filed in December 2021, and therefore, as Automaton points out, is legally effective against Palworld, which launched in January 2024. Nintendo has not yet officially disclosed the patents that Pocketpair allegedly infringed.
It is worth noting that Palworld features a mechanic involving throwing a ball-like object (called a Pal Sphere) at monsters on the field to catch them, which could prove to be key to the lawsuit. Kurihara suggested that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed four divisional patents for specific apply in the litigation against Palworld’s creator, Pocketpair. As for Pocketpair, the company said it would reluctantly investigate the claims of patent infringement while continuing to update Palworld despite the lawsuit, and apologized to players concerned about the game’s future.
Here is the full text of Pocketpair’s statement:
About the lawsuit
Yesterday, a patent infringement lawsuit was filed against our company.
We have received notice of this lawsuit and will commence appropriate legal proceedings and investigation into the patent infringement claims.
At this time, we have no knowledge of the specific patents we are accused of infringing, nor have we been notified.
Pocketpair is a diminutive independent gaming company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. We will continue to strive for this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of players around the world. Palworld was a surprising success this year, both for players and for us. We were overwhelmed by the incredible reception to the game and worked strenuous to make it even better for our fans. We will continue to improve Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.
It’s truly unfortunate that we’ll be forced to devote significant time to non-development activities due to this lawsuit. However, we will do everything we can for our fans and ensure that independent game developers are not confined or discouraged from pursuing their imaginative ideas.
We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worries and discomfort this news has caused.
As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair.
Gamers are now wondering whether Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s lawsuit will force Pocketpair to pull Palworld from sale or perhaps even shut down the game.
Palworld launched on Steam for $30 and went straight to Game Pass on Xbox and PC earlier this year, breaking sales and concurrent player records. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe said Palworld’s launch was so huge that the developer he couldn’t handle the huge profits the game was generatingStill, Pocketpair moved quickly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakthrough success, signing a contract with Sony to establish a novel company called Palworld Entertainment to expand its intellectual property.
Speaking of Sony, there are rumors that Palworld will be announced for the PlayStation launch at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. Pocketpair announced its PlayStation premiere in Juneso it wouldn’t be a surprise. TGS takes place from September 26th to 29th.
While player numbers have been down a bit since the explosive launch of Palworldremains one of the most popular games on Steam (Microsoft does not publicly disclose Windows and Xbox player counts), ranking in the top 100 on Valve’s platform.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
