The Palworld developer Pocketpair published a report detailing the terms of Nintendo’s intellectual property lawsuit in September. When Nintendo announced its lawsuit, it alleged Palworld “infringes multiple patent rights” without specifying which ones.
In its report, Pocket Pair confirmed the patents that Nintendo claims Palworld violates. Nintendo claims Palworld violates three Japanese patents covering creature-catching and riding, which protects Nintendo.
This report details the patents in question, which were all registered months after Palworld was released in January 2024. However, each patent is a continuation of patents Nintendo filed in 2021 during Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
According to IP attorney Kirk Sigmon, the Japanese patent law allows a patent owner to extend the patent with additional claims
Palworld Developer Unveils Value of Nintendo Lawsuit
“As you go through this process and file divisions, continuations, whatever, you are drafting claims that are more and more tailored towards assertion,” Sigmon said.
“You know more about what you can get and what you can’t, and what you can also do is—if you know who you’re going to go sue—you can draft claims to target them.”
In addition, Nintendo had filed divisional patents after Pocketpair had started publishing Palworld gameplay footage, suggesting that Nintendo might have begun sculpting additional patent filings well in advance of its eventual lawsuit.
“If they were aware of Palworld, or if they were concerned about it, it would not surprise me if they went back and told their patent attorneys, ‘We want claims that we think are prepared to handle them,'” Sigmon said in September.
The article reports that Nintendo is seeking an injunction against Palworld, which would halt sales until infringing mechanics are removed. The patents cover some of Palworld’s most fundamental mechanics, so removing them and replacing them would be quite challenging.
Additionally, Nintendo is seeking a combined 5 million yen (about $33,000) plus late payment damages each for both itself and The Pokémon Company.
