"It would be hard to blame Nintendo for becoming used to getting its way when it comes to courts. In case after case, the Japanese behemoth crushes its prey, scoring millions in damages. But when it comes to the increasingly complex attempt to take down the enormous success of creature-collecting survival game Palworld, Nintendo has just taken a big blow, being denied a vital patent."
"In one of the more peculiar twists of the lengthy battle between Pokémon owners Nintendo and Palworld creators Pocketpair, Nintendo submitted a few new or revised patents to the courts to attempt to retrospectively claim rights to specific gaming mechanics. While some might very sensibly consider the idea of a gaming mechanic being something someone could patent as anathema to all of art and creativity, and to be rank hypocrisy in an industry that's entirely built on top of mechanics created by previous generations,"
Nintendo has a long record of courtroom victories and large damages awards, but the company suffered a setback when a vital patent was denied in its dispute with Palworld. Palworld launched in January 2024 amid widespread notice of creature designs reminiscent of Pokémon. Rather than pursue character-copy claims, Nintendo pursued Palworld's creature-capturing mechanics and submitted new or revised patents to retroactively claim rights to those mechanics. The lawsuit, filed months after Palworld's release, cited three patents—including one on throwing a capture orb to initiate combat—and sought less than $70,000 in damages.
Read at Kotaku
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