Nintendo's Pokémon Patents Could Mean Trouble For Palworld In Upcoming Lawsuit
Patents might stifle creativity and competition, but that won't stop the lawsuits.
Last week we reported on the lawsuit Nintendo is bringing against Palworld, and over the weekend more details have emerged on what the lawsuit is regarding and what it could mean for Palworld.
Despite some similarities in character design between Pokémon and Palworld, the lawsuit isn't actually about that. Making similar but visually distinct characters isn't really against the law. What could be however is the use of certain game mechanics Palworld has seemingly borrowed from Pokémon.
Reiterating, because I realize this has been confusing...
Nintendo and The Pokemon applied for this patent in 2021 and secured it in Japan in 2023. The application is still pending in the U.S.@sweetpotatoes has a good story on this: https://t.co/BsVBqtdhMV https://t.co/ZIhquVwfYT
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) September 20, 2024
Yep, you read that right, game mechanics can be patented. It's why, for example, nobody has borrowed the Nemesis system from the Shadow of Mordor series, a highly-regarded and well-received system that you would have thought would have been used by a thousand different games by now. You see, Warner Bros. Games owns the patent to that game system, therefore making it illegal for anyone to use it for 20 years from the date of the patent.
According to the Tweet from Game File reporter Stephen Totilo, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo applied for and received a patent for catching a monster by throwing an item at it in Japan. Sound familiar?
While the patent application is reportedly still pending in the U.S., it has been in effect in Japan since 2023.
It's likely that The Pokémon Company and Nintendo have been eyeing Palworld for a lawsuit for quite some time, and the patent could be their strongest case against them. Believe me when I tell you that if Nintendo could have sued Palworld over similarities in character design, they would have by now. The last company Nintendo sued over patent infringement wound up owning Nintendo some $20 million by the time it was over.
Palworld has been pulled from this year's Tokyo game show where they were expected to announce a PS5 version of the game.
You can bet your sweet behind that Nintendo has spent a lot of time getting this lawsuit put together, and it looks like they could, in Japan at least, have legal ground to stand on.
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Troy “Noobfridge” Blackburn has been reporting on the video game industry for over a decade. Whether it’s news, editorials, gameplay videos, or streams, Noobfridge never fails to present his honest opinion whether those hot takes prove to be popular or not.
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I'm pretty sure though those devs at palworld would have to comply with these rules sharply or at least now fly over there and do some begging as they are copier.
It was obvious from the get go they broke copyrights with the slight of hand craftmanship, and many other devs have done and got away with it.
I think its like throwing salt currently when Nintendo should of reacted far faster, its why digimon and roblox etc etc have got away with it all by slight of hand. Nothing done. Reactions are slow..Speed would deter others from going down this path of slight of hand copyright. There are a lot of games that are fully breaching copyright and they've being going for on for years.
A deal is needed not a lawsuit, unless it has to be taken down, which they should do anyway in respect to game they copied and made from their ideas..