Summary

  • Earlier this week, Nintendo surprised us all but revealing that it's suing Palworld developer Pocketpair.
  • Nintendo claimed the lawsuit is due to Palworld infringing on "multiple patent rights" but didn't reveal which ones.
  • It seems that at least one of the infringed patent rights is a Pokeball patent that was filed this Summer and added to an existing patent from 2021.

Nintendo hasn't officially confirmed why it's suing Palworld developer Pocketpair, but it seems that it could be based on a Pokeball patent and how Palworld's Palspheres directly copy the mechanic.

Just a few days ago, Nintendo dropped an absolute bombshell on the internet by revealing that it's suing Palworld developer Pockepair. While nearly everyone speculated that might happen when the game released earlier this year and took a lot of liberties with its Pal designs, the real shock came from the lawsuit being based on the claim that Palworld "infringes multiple patent rights".

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Pocketpair has since replied to the lawsuit and confirmed that it's going to be fighting it, despite apparently not knowing what patents it's infringing on. Nintendo hasn't revealed any more details about the situation just yet, but it seems that it might be based on a Pokeball patent that was originally filed in 2021 and then updated in the Summer.

Nintendo Might Be Suing Palworld Over A Pokeball Patent

Source: Eurogamer 
Image credit: Patent No. 7545191, owned by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.
 

As reported by Eurogamer, this information comes from Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara, who spoke to Yahoo Japan and shared more details about the patent itself and why it might be the focal point of the lawsuit. As you can see above, the patent is centred around how a Pokeball works as a capture item and how a successful capture results in it being "owned by the player".

Of course, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Palworld's Palspheres, which work in the exact same way and only differentiate with the name and design, would be infringing on the patent. According to Kurihara, the patent, which was jointly filed by The Pokemon Company and Nintendo, was added to an existing "parent" patent from December 2021 in the Summer of this year.

This makes the added on patent seem like a direct response to Palworld and one of the main reasons why Nintendo is suing Pocketpair. It also means that the patent can be used by Nintendo in the lawsuit and is likely one of the "multiple patent rights" it claims Pockepair is infringing on in Palworld.

"[It's a] killer patent. It seems like it would be hard to avoid if you want to make a Pokémon-like game, and it's easy to infringe if you're not careful."

It's worth noting that Nintendo's claim is focused on "multiple" patents it feels Pocketpair are infringing on, so there's likely a bit more to the story than just the Pokeball one shown above. Since Nintendo hasn't revealed anything else so far, though, it's the best guess that any of us have about the situation.

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Palworld

Open-World Shooter Survival Systems 11 7.8/10 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 71/100 Critics Rec: 58% Released January 19, 2024 ESRB T For Teen Due To Violence Developer(s) Pocket Pair, Inc. Publisher(s) Pocket Pair, Inc. Engine Unreal Engine 5
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Palworld has been described as Pokemon with guns and well, it's hard to argue with that. The game is very similar in nature to the Pokemon formula, tasking you with catching and working with monsters called Pals. There are key differences, though. Palworld is rooted in multiplayer, oh, and, unlike Pokemon, its Pals have guns.

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