Nintendo’s Palworld Lawsuit Might Go International As New Patents Land U.S. Approval – Nintendo Life
GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpNintendo LifeGuestLogin or Sign UpThe saga continuesWe have been following Nintendo’s Palworld lawsuit for the best part of six months now, and while we have grown to have a better understanding of the particular patents involved, all of the infringement claims have been tied to Japan. However, in recent months, it seems that Nintendo has been preparing to bring the lawsuit stateside, with a handful of applications now appearing in the US Patent Office.As reported by Games Fray, Nintendo has had three patent applications approved in the US in recent months — no. 12179111 in December 2024, 12194382 in January, and 12220638 earlier this week on 11th February. While the middle of the three doesn’t appear to be all that relevant to the Palworld case (it was filed in 2022 and is all about exchanging items with other players), the remaining two were filed after Palworld’s launch and specifically detail creature-catching mechanics — the specifics of which appear to be integral to the lawsuit in Japan.As is the case with the Japanese patents, these U.S. applications are derived from a “parent patent” established before Palworld’s launch. So, while the specifics were established after the fact, their links to the parent patent would make them valid in this instance.Interestingly, Games Fray also highlights another Nintendo U.S. patent (18/652,883), which was actually filed back in September 2024, but was recently rejected by the patent office on 22 of the application’s 23 claims — and the final claim (which seemingly relates to switching out creatures that you can ride) was merely “objected” to.The “objection” gives Nintendo the chance to rewrite the claim and submit it independently, though that would leave the company with a patent consisting of only a single claim (and, generally, the more claims you have, the more likely the accused party will have infringed on the patent).While it remains to be seen what approach Nintendo will take with the rejected application, there are still two that have been accepted by the patent office and appear to relate to the Palworld lawsuit in Japan. The original case is still underway at the time of writing, but approvals like this have us thinking that it won’t be long before it formally heads stateside.Nintendo’s lawsuit claims it “infringes multiple patent rights”Nintendo and TPC seek 10m Yen in damagesPika your battlesWe’ll let you know if we hear of any further developments in the Palworld lawsuit.[source gamesfray.com]About Jim NormanJim came to Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his insistence that The Minish Cap is the best Zelda game and his unwavering love for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he has continued to write news and features on the site ever since.Comments 44Play Digimon Story Time Stranger later this year if you want to support games that don’t palagarise from others and compete with Pokemon in the monster collecting genre! Play Cybersleuth in the meantime too! Underappreciated franchise!Here we go again. What is the current issue right now?What’s a Palworld?Here, it’s a great thing Sony’s been messing with Nintendo, as evidenced by yesterday’s State of Play. They will eventually be humbled.This is a comment that I hope will get likes to make my opinion feel validatedGod sake, back in the 80s/90s most games were ripp-offs of each other.
Dont care anymoreWhile I’m waiting for the outcome of this lawsuit to say anything about other aspects of it again, the fact that patents approved after Palworld’s release are apparently involved in it just because related to a previous “parent patent” is incredibly scummy no matter if it’s legal!@Lightsiyd they messed with Nintendo by making another boring State of Play?@Cathalm catching mons since 1997 and not a lawsuit all this time?@Lightsiyd I’ve only paid idle attention to SoP via Push Square’s headlines but so far I’m not spotting anything that’s supposed to “mess with Nintendo” there. Implying Sony even intends to mess with the company whose platform they now publish occasional games on.@Cathalm How so? There shouldn’t be any patents in game design.
All it does is stifles game development and especially hurt Indie developers who don’t have the funds to hire top lawyers to fight it.This sets a very bad precedent and eventually Game Developers will be targeted by patent trolls as well.This is just very bad overall!Fore example. Can you imagine what would happen if someone had managed to successfully patent core game mechanics like RPG stat, skill and leveling systems?Nintendo is literally turning into a Patent troll company and it just makes me sad!Seriously! Patenting creature catching mechanics. Patenting switching out creatures to ride on? Any idea how many (RPG) games use such mechanics? It’s not just Palworld.Just the creature catching mechanic patent would target a whole host of games, like Digimon, Yo-kai Watch, TemTem, etc.
Monster taming in general is a catching mechanic and exist in a whole host of RPG games, like World of Warcraft, EverQuest 2, Lord of the Rings Online, Ark:Survival, etc, etc.The fact that Nintendo tries to shoe-horn these new patents into an existing Parent patent, just shows how scummy they are!
They also filed the lawsuit, after Palworld announced to release on Playstation. So this lawsuit is just driven by ongoing hate&rivalry between Sony and Nintendo.
It’s honestly disgusting and I am starting to hate Nintendo more and more lately. The late Satoru Iwata must be turning in his grave to see what is happening to his beloved company.Maybe it’s a shame something couldn’t have been worked out in this case. A lot of professional gamers have said that Palworld is the game they wanted The Pokémon Company to make.There’s literally zero evidence Nintendo will file something in the US.Stop the crystal ball gazing.@nhSnork It’s fine if you didn’t spot anything. I’m happy with what I spotted.Way to go, Nintendo, sue those filthy plagiarists. The creators of Astro Bot should be next, lol.@Murasaki_Nichirin What plagiarism lol?Palworld is not a Pokemon carbon copy. The game incorporates a lot of different genres into one.It’s first and foremost a Survival game, like Ark:Survival with added Pokemon mechanics.If you want to look at a more direct copy of a Pokemon Game, then look at TemTem. The only difference is that they use digital square discs instead of round balls to catch creatures.So why didn’t Nintendo file these ridiculous patents back then and went after TemTem developers?No they didn’t. They were about to let the Palworld devs off the hook, until they made the mistake to launch it on the Playstation.Then the execs at Nintendo got into an angry fit and sued them. All because of this stupid rivalry between Sony and Nintendo in Japan.@LightsiydThe Sony show were a disaster, again.90% of the games were also confirmed for Xbox.Sony didn’t show Venom, Wolverine, Next God of War, Death Stranding 2 and many others as people expected.Palworld is better than PokemonI love nintendo games, but damn i hope Palworld wins this. Pokemon has such market value that they can do anything and still earn millions. Give them competition. It’s better for the consumers@Lightsiyd What exactly did Sony’s SoP have to do with Nintendo?I’m genuinely curious. Please don’t be coy about it.@Ralizah inb4 “they showed new Digimon” which we all know will be on Switch 2 regardless lolHonestly, I don’t think Nintendo cares about the mechanics. I still believe this is because of the blatant design ripoffs that Pocket Pair chose to include in Palworld. Nintendo is definitely being petty, but Pocket Pair should have known Nintendo wouldn’t let them go without a fight because of those designs.@Cathalm Digimon games are pretty boring for me. I like shooting monsters with guns lol@Itachi2099 That would be a bit like arguing that showcasing the new Sonic Racing game is them going after the Mario Kart dime lolIt’s too late to go international now especially since no one will be on Nintendo’s side. Palworld had already proven that Nintendo’s lawsuit can’t stopped them especially with all the cross promotions and money that had at the moment.@Jeronan I never mentioned patents. I am talking about the plagiarised Monsters.Nintendo never went after any other franchise because they didn’t blatantly rip off their designs. Pocketpair are known for doing this with their other games also.I agree game mechanics shouldn’t be patented but they are clearly going after them because of them copying a lot of designs rather than mechanics themselves.@chuckboi79 whatever floats your boat! There is loads of games you can shoot Monsters in that deserve your time!Nintendo saving the world yet again just like when “assisting” police getting that guy arrested in Japan for selling saves to an old 3DS gamehttps://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-assists-japanese-police-investigation-into-man-allegedly-selling-hacked-pokmon-saves-on-3ds@Ralizah At the earlier parts of the State of Play particularly, a few of their games made it evident that they are pushing some family-friendly games, which is generally known to be Nintendo’s territory. A few content creators noticed it and an article has come out confirming it – https://www.dualshockers.com/sony-plans-to-release-more-family-friendly-games-like-astro-bot/#:~:text=Summary,content%20updates%20for%20Astro%20Bot.Basically, if Nintendo gets too careless, like they have with Pokemon, they could end paying a price for it. Not in the near future I think, but it’s possible.@Toastmaster I think Sony mostly messed up too, but there were about 3 or 4 games I liked enough to pay attention to.@Cathalm Idk if it is true that they are actually indeed going after the designs or not if they just said its patent infringement. If it was indeed that they are going after designs, then well it is more understandable. But we’re not too sure if they are going after the designs.@anoyonmus with how some models are literally just copies of Pokemon models, I think they’ll go with whatever they can to take them downPalworld brought it on themselves though. It’s a shame, if they just had a shown a bit more ambition and didn’t do all the blatant copying, the franchise could have seen a bright future.@Cathalm well let’s wait and see how this happens.@Lightsiyd Thanks for explaining your reasoning.I feel like, if this pivot does occur, it’ll be more of a return to roots moment for Sony than anything. Traditionally, they published quite a few family friendly titles on PS1 – PS3. The current association of them with violent third-person adult-oriented action-adventure games almost exclusively is relatively recent, once the majority of their output was Naughty Dog-ified.Either way, I’m happy to see they have a team that absolutely loves Nintendo and is capable of producing experiences that are also Nintendo-tier in terms of polish and fun factor. I’m still very salty about what happened with Japan Studio, but Team Asobi is probably the most exciting developer in their stable at the moment after how good Astro Bot turned out to be.In general, Playstation as a brand will only benefit from introducing more genre diversity back into their stable again.@Cathalm I mean it only infringes because of a patent put in place after Palworld released something that should be against the law. It would be like Nintendo filing a patent for Zelda style free climbing and then going after every game released since BotW that has type of climbing.Last, I checked in Nintendo has lost 22 or 23 patents in the US. The do not have a leg to stand on and are going to continue to fail at this. All in all, this is witch hunt is hurting Nintendo. I have reached a point I will not longer invest or purchase anything that has to do with Nintendo.Take’em down Nintendo.@Cathalm They are not going after the designs or they would have immediately sued them two years ago!
They specifically filed these new “game mechanics” patents right after Palworld’s release.Two years ago some crazy Pokemon fans were putting out fake articles with fake photo’s claiming that Pocket Pair had exported the 3D models from Pokemon games and use them in Palworld. With that “fake” information they tried to pressure Nintendo / Pokemon Company to sue Pocket Pair.This was quickly debunked shortly after. Just some zealous Pokemon fans that were upset that Palworld was a bigger success than the latest Pokemon games.So no… Nintendo didn’t take any action. It was after Pocket Pair announced a deal with Sony to release Palworld on Playstation.
Then directly after Nintendo filed the lawsuit!
That is just pettiness! Nothing more. Nothing less.@Jeronan I’m pretty sure Nintendo’s main gripe with Palworld is the creatures’ designs being too similar to Pokemon’s which is undisputable tbh. So yeah, design-wise it’s almost a “carbon copy” but not quite a rip-off yet as it always happens to be the case with plagiarism.@Murasaki_Nichirin Have you seen TemTem?If Nintendo was really upset with the creature designs in Palworld, they would have immediately filed a lawsuit for plagiarism and not wait two years, which is debatable. Since plagiarism would be if they would have stolen assets from Pokemon games and then importing them into their own game (like some overzealous fans claimed at first and then was publicly debunked).There are similarities sure, just like TemTem has creatures with similarities, but it’s not enough to sue them for plagiarism!No. Nintendo was waiting for these new patents to come through, but when Palworld was going to release on Playstation… that was the ultimate trigger to suddenly Sue them.
Even though the patents are still pending and I sincerely hope they get rejected!
As those two patents in question are way too broad and would put almost every single current and future RPG at risk!
It would be the end for creature capture/collecting games and player ridable mounts in games.Nintendo is in much need for internal self-reflection! Especially after the disgrace that was Pokemon Scarlet/Violet!
They should look as to what made Palworld such a success, learn from it and then make a better Pokemon game! More importantly, give Gamefreak the time they need, to finish their games at a quality we used to expect from Nintendo!Or have we all forgotten the apology from Nintendo and their promise to fix the performance problems with Scarlet/Violet after the public outcry? What an empty apology and promise that was! All they cared about was pushing the two paid DLC’s through our throat, collect more money from their gullible Pokemon fans and move on to the next game!@Jeronan @Jeronan well not necessarily they would have. Pokemon or Nintendo are not going to go after every single studio that plagerises their work before a game releases. It would be unwise use of resources. Especially when the development of Palworld was as messy as it was in the beginning, there was a chance the game would have never released.2 years ago, they may have done that but people have done that recently by taking models directly from the games and overlapped them, clearly showing they were at the very least traced. Many 3D artists have said it is impossible for so many similarities to exist in separate designs for it to not be the case. One of the pals even has a unique flower on its head that isn’t even a real flower, one that was just designed for Lilligant.This isn’t a school yard. Nintendo/TPC are not going to be pressured by fans to sue someone. They are a business with experts in the fields working for them to know whether or not legal action is required.If that was 2 years ago, Pokemon fans couldn’t be upset that Palworld was a ‘success’ because it hadn’t released yet. Also the argument for success is objective because lastest sale numbers for Scarlet and Violet are 26.38 million copies and for Palworld only has 15 million sales and 10 million players playing through Gamepass.Pettiness is not the same as targeting a game that plagiarised your work. While Nintendo have targeted others for many things that are not a good look. This one is very justied because they are profiting off of their work. Also the assumption that they are only suing after PlayStation got involved is an assumption. Legal action isn’t something that gets announced on a whim and had a lot of stuff planned in the background.While they should have done more to fix Scarlet and Violet, they have taken 3 years now to release a new game so they are taking into account the criticism.Can you highlight any other patent cases Nintendo have ongoing to warrant the title of a patent troll?Those people have often talked about how they have been working with new talent for a lot of games so they are preparing for that scenario.The time restraints are not all in Nintendo’s control as they only own a 3rd of the Pokemon company.@Jeronan And? Even if your speculation has some merit, what is the issue here exactly? It’s strictly business and Nintendo fights to secure their IP from being unethically and presumably illegally copied and getting released on the competitor’s platform. There’s no crime in Nintendo’s actions, but there is at least an attempted crime on part of Palworld’s developers. And Palworld’s success is only due to the fact that it had been blatantly promoted as a “Pokemon with guns”, almost like a meme which is, honestly, a joke, and its reduced price compared to the Pokemon games since it’s a niche title. There wouldn’t have been any Palworld without Pokemon, so it’s pretty obvious why Nintendo is pissed and wants some justice to be done.@Murasaki_Nichirin @Cathalm I know Nintendo goes even after their own fans and strike them down with CoD’s and Copyright strikes.We all know Nintendo is fierce in this and they don’t wait two years!If there was any copyright infringement done by Creature pal, Nintendo would have immediately striken them down right after the release of Palworld! The game released in 2023! The playstation release was just couple months back, but it has been available on PC and XBOX for almost 2 years now.
As that is how you do it. You immediately want to take IP theft down as quick as possible!
This is how IP laws work. The longer you wait, the weaker your case gets. Hence, why Nintendo always strikes first, ask questions later.So yes my point still stands and is still valid! It’s too much of a coincidence that right after the Palworld coming to Playstation announcement, Nintendo suddenly dropped the lawsuit.
As at this point, this long after Palworld’s initial release…. it’s just a petty lawsuit, due to the ongoing Rivalry between Sony and Nintendo in Japan.PS. The “Pokemon with Guns” meme was created by the game press and is just that. A meme!
If you had actually played Palworld, you would know it’s far from a Pokemon game and more like Ark:Survival with creature catching mechanics like Pokemon/Digimon/etc.Like I said earlier. TemTem is in fact far closer to an actual Pokemon clone, as it literally and actually plays like Pokemon game, with three starter pokemon’s, trainer rival, gym battles, pokemon centers, etc, etc.Nintendo dabbling in scummy, underhanded practices yet again? A real shocked Pikachu face moment.I hope Pal world wins and Nintendo’s patents get rejected.@Jeronan you keep claiming it was a direct response to Sony but this is the actual timeline of events.Jan 25, 2024 – Pokemon announce they are investigating PalworldJul 10, 2024 – Sony announce a deal with PalworldSep 21, 2024 – Pokemon and Nintendo announce they intend to pursue legal action.They took months to investigate and it was two months after Sony announced they were going to pursue it legally, not right after.Also Nintendo aren’t rivaling Sony. This isn’t a TV show. Nintendo dominated the Japanense market this generation. They aren’t concerned over one game that isn’t on their platform that had 5 minutes of fame compared to the most successful franchise in the world. They don’t want their IP being stolen from. That’s clearly the driving force behind this legal action.The coincidence that Pal designs are very very similar to a lot of Pokemon designs is much more significance than them announcing a lawsuit after months of an investigation.Temtem didn’t steal designs though.@Jeronan A meme can be used for advertising purposes, and in case of Palworld a meme was intentionally used for exactly those purposes, with some moderate success. So it’s not “just a meme”, it’s an obvious asset in the advertising campaign. The rest is just your speculation, I’m not even going to delve into it without more detailed coverage of the legal process in question. Show CommentsLeave A CommentHold on there, you need to login to post a comment…Nintendo Talks About Future Switch Support Ahead Of Switch 2 Launch”We would like to continue releasing new titles”Metroid Prime First 4 Figures ‘Samus Phazon Suit’ Sneak Peek, Pre-Orders Open SoonUpdate: Here’s a teaser of the light-up collector’s edition98 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo’s ‘Play On’ eShop Sale (Europe)Every game we scored 9/10 or higherForget Microsoft, Another Company Apparently Wanted To Buy Nintendo Back In The DayTalk about ‘What If…’Nintendo President Reiterates Switch Online Will “Continue To Be Available” For Switch 2″We will continue to provide comprehensive services” 5Feature “I Was Seeing Him In My Dreams” – Nintendo Veteran Just Can’t Shake Shigeru Miyamoto 66Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (15th February) 14News Marvel Rivals Dev NetEase “Already In Contact With Nintendo” About Switch 2 30News Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time Physical Release Confirmed (Japan) 26News Alarmo Now Available To Everyone On The My Nintendo Store (US)News Nintendo Talks About Future Switch Support Ahead Of Switch 2 LaunchRumour Placeholder Retail Listing Suggests Switch 2 Price Might Be Cheaper Than…News Metroid Prime First 4 Figures ‘Samus Phazon Suit’ Sneak Peek, Pre-Orders…Guide 98 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo’s ‘Play On’ eShop Sale (Europe)News Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From “SEGA Universes”Talking Point Why An LCD Screen Isn’t The End Of The World For Switch 2News Lunar Remastered Collection Physical Release Will Not Be Up For Pre-Orde…News Forget Microsoft, Another Company Apparently Wanted To Buy Nintendo Back…News Nintendo President Reiterates Switch Online Will “Continue To Be Av…News Metroidvania ‘Chronicles Of The Wolf’ Takes A Few Cues From Castlevania IIPopular Right NowShow More Join 1,508,148 people following Nintendo Life:© 2025 Hookshot Media, partner of IGN Entertainment | Hosted by 44 Bytes | AdChoices | Do Not Sell My Personal Information
