In a clash between game developers, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company initiated a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair in September 2024 in Japan, alleging that Pocketpair infringed multiple Japanese patents. Nintendo, a co-owner of The Pokémon Company (collectively "Nintendo"), owns a growing global patent portfolio relating to the famous Pokémon franchise. These patents cover traditional Pokémon game mechanics (e.g., battling, catching, and training Pokémon), as well as newer features and gameplay enhancements.
Palworld, released by Pocketpair in 2024, is an open world "creature-collector" action game that has been rapidly gaining popularity in the gaming world. Nintendo argues that Palworld utilizes Pokémon-like gameplay mechanics that infringe three of Nintendo's Japanese patents ("the Asserted JP Patents"). For example, like Pokémon, characters in Palworld could throw an object to summon creatures for battle. Pocketpair responded by making changes to Palworld and modifying its summoning feature to avoid infringement. But despite these efforts, the Japanese infringement battle rages on.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to "patent 'em all" or perhaps "catch 'em all," Nintendo is not only defending its Pokémon gameplay in Japan but also actively building a patent arsenal in the U.S., where four counterpart U.S. patents claiming similar subject matter and priority to the Asserted JP Patents issued earlier this year (U.S. Patent No. 12,246,255; U.S. Patent No. 12,179,111; U.S. Patent No. 12,220,638; and U.S. Patent No. 12,409,387). Nintendo is also actively seeking to expand its patent coverage with new child patent application filings in the pipeline.
Nintendo has not initiated lawsuits based on the newly-issued U.S. patents, possibly awaiting the outcome of the Japanese litigation or the potential issuance of additional U.S. patents. Critics, however, have already raised concerns that the scope of Nintendo's U.S., patents are overly broad and cover general gameplay concepts in "creature-collector" gaming. For example, some critics have alleged that some of the newly-issued patents cover well-known general summoning game play concepts. Discussion regarding the broad scope of the subject matter covered by the issued claims is prominent and many have hypothesized that the patents may be invalidated if existing prior art is discovered. Nonetheless, these patents may cause future legal risks and uncertainty for Pocketpair and numerous developers whose games may fall within the scope of Nintendo's existing or future U.S. patents.
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