It's been a topic of debate for some time now whether Nintendo can sue Palworldand those fears have come true. This new trial against Palworld, Pokémons indie competitor, could mean serious trouble for studio Pocketpair.
Nintendo is famously litigious and has been known to take action against fan games, system modders, YouTube creators, hackers, ROM sites and more. Thanks to this reputation, many fans of Palworld has expressed concern that Nintendo may find some reason to sue the game for its design and mechanical similarities to the game Pokémon series.
Explaining Nintendo's Lawsuit Against Palworld
On September 18, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair citing it Palworld “infringes several patent rights” (according to an official press release from the company). This is an important part of the case, as there has long been legal precedent that game mechanics cannot be copyrighted (determined by cases such as Atari v. Amusement World), but they can be patented. The lawsuit seeks an “injunction against infringement” as well as compensation for the alleged infringement.
Nintendo's gun protection patent against Palworld
Many of Nintendo's high-profile legal attacks, such as those against fan games that
Pokemon Uranium
and
AM2R
has been due to copyright – expression of ideas and mechanics as opposed to these elements themselves.
Patent attorney Andrew Velzen wrote for GamesIndustry.biz that he would be “surprised” to see Nintendo pursue the copyright angle now because Pals, while similar, is quite different from Pokemon. However, Nintendo is no stranger to patent lawsuits, with some more high-profile cases including its lawsuit against mobile developer Colopl.
Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara, in an interview with Yahoo News, narrowed down which patents Nintendo and The Pokemon Company can use. Kurihara agrees that the copyright angle is not viable for Nintendo, saying that Mates “come close, but they narrowly avoid it,” but lists 28 possible patents that Nintendo could use.
Kurihara names patent No. 7545191 as the “killer patent” in particular. This is the patent that, to simplify, covers catching Pokemon with a Pokeball. This patent is from July 2024 and, according to Kurihara, underwent an accelerated process to completion.
On the other hand, some experts are less likely to panic. Patent analyst Florian Mueller told Game Rant that Nintendo will do “some damage in Japan, but probably not outside.” Mueller added that Palworld “probably offend[s] on nothing that can stand up to serious judicial scrutiny,” citing that the issued patents may still be “revoked or limited” by the Japan Patent Office.
Pocketpair responds to Nintendo's lawsuit
In Pocketpair's Twitter statement on the matter, the studio states how the lawsuit will take “significant time” away from game development. Pocketpair is also “unaware”, at least for now, of which specific patents it is targeting.
