Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's Monster Capture Patent Rejected, May Signal Problems for Their Palworld Lawsuit

Nintendo has tally into different contented during its ongoing ineligible conflict against Pocketpair’s open-world endurance crippled Palworld. As reported by GamesFray, 1 of the Nintendo patents related to the lawsuit has been rejected by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) for lacking originality.

Back successful September 2024, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company officially announced they were filing a patent infringement suit successful Japan against Pocketpair’s open-world endurance crippled Palworld. The lawsuit involves 3 main patents granted by the JPO: 2 related to monster seizure and release, and 1 related to riding characters.

These patents were each filed and approved successful 2024, but are derived from earlier Nintendo patents dating from 2021. It seems that Nintendo geared these divisional patents to combat specifically against Palworld’s alleged infringement of the originals. Since then, the lawsuit has rumbled connected with Nintendo adjacent rewriting a mount-related patent mid-lawsuit, and arguing that mods should not number arsenic anterior art.

However, 1 patent successful this household of monster seizure patents that Nintendo filed successful 2024 has yet to beryllium approved. In October, the JPO pointed retired that this patent lacks an inventive step, making a non-final determination to cull the application. The office’s reasoning for the rejection made notation to older games with akin mechanics that were released adjacent earlier Nintendo’s 2021 precedence date, including ARK (released successful 2015), Monster Hunter 4 (2013), and Japanese browser crippled Kantai Collection (also 2013). Ironically, Pocketpair’s Craftopia (2020) and Niantic’s Pokémon Go (2016) were among different examples of games that were utilized to reason that the patent lacks originality.

Although this non-binding and non-final determination by the Japan Patent Office to cull the exertion volition not straight interaction the lawsuit, it whitethorn inactive power it, arsenic noted by GamesFray. This is due to the fact that the rejected patent exertion 2024-031879 is intimately related to the 2 main monster seizure patents (JP7505852 and JP7545191) that are being utilized against Palworld successful this case.

Therefore, the JPO’s determination could formed uncertainty connected the validity of the monster seizure patents progressive successful the lawsuit, strengthening Pocketpair's position. It could assistance the statement that Palworld is not infringing connected Nintendo’s copyright, alternatively Palworld’s monster-capture mechanics are simply gathering upon decades of akin systems recovered successful older games made by assorted developers. As IP advisor Florian Mueller astatine GamesFray noted, “The information that the patent examiner is present looking astatine real-world games arsenic opposed to conscionable patent documents and articles considerably ups the ante for Nintendo.”

Earlier this month, erstwhile Capcom crippled developer Yoshiki Okamoto issued comments seemingly against Pocketpair and Palworld successful the ineligible battle, sparking a backlash from viewers. In a YouTube video posted connected his transmission connected September 27, Okamoto said Palworld had "crossed a enactment that should not beryllium crossed, and I don't privation the satellite to go a spot wherever this benignant of happening is acceptable."

Last month, Pocketpair announced Palworld: Palfarm conscionable a week aft Nintendo revealed chap cozy farming sim Pokémon Pokopia. Pocketpair announced connected September 16 that Palworld would get an authoritative 1.0 merchandise sometime successful 2026.

At GDC successful March, IGN sat down for an extended speech with Pocketpair communications manager and publishing manager John “Bucky” Buckley pursuing his speech astatine the conference, 'Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop.' During that talk, Buckley went into candid item astir a fig of Palworld’s struggles, particularly the accusations of it utilizing generative AI and stealing Pokemon’s models for its ain Pals. He adjacent commented connected Nintendo’s patent infringement suit against the studio, saying it “came arsenic a shock” and was “something that nary 1 adjacent considered.”

Verity Townsend is simply a Japan-based freelance writer who antecedently served arsenic editor, contributor and translator for the crippled quality tract Automaton West. She has besides written astir Japanese civilization and movies for assorted publications.