Palworld: What patent created for Pokémon would have violated to justify Nintendo’s lawsuit?

Game news Palworld: What patent created for Pokémon would have violated to justify Nintendo’s lawsuit?

A late complaint

On September 19, Nintendo shared a press release in which the firm indicated that it had filed a complaint against the Pocket Pair studio and its game Palworld For “patent rights infringement“. A late recourse to justice in view of the explicit inspirations of Palworld, which Nintendo justifies by the duration of a “thorough investigation” carried out beforehand.

Available since January 19, Palworld has never hidden its resemblance to Pokémon, quite the contrary. Never really worried about it, the Pocket Pair studio has continued to enrich its title with several updates to finally offer players an experience that is certainly similar to the Nintendo license, but also sufficiently different to stand out from the crowd.

That being said, the studio assured “initiate appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into allegations of patent infringement“in a statement shared shortly after Nintendo’s, even if he also declares not to know” the specific patents we are accused of infringing“. And that is precisely the reason for this complaint.

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A recent patent concerned?

In the meantime, journalist Stephen Totilo decided to investigate the possible patents invoked by Nintendo, given that the firm has not yet cited a specific patent. After his investigation, the journalist ended up finding a patent filed by Nintendo in 2021. This patent would concern the Pokémon capture system and details how this mechanic works where “a character throws an object to capture a monster in the middle of a field“. A mechanic that we indeed find in Palworld.

Currently being validated in the United States, this patent was validated in 2023 in Japan. However, this is precisely the country in which Nintendo filed the complaint and it is also the country of origin of the two studios. In fact, Pocket Pair would be at fault. It remains to be seen whether the case will end up in court or whether the two parties will be able to find common ground.