Nintendo has announced that it is in the process of filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, the creators of Palworld. In a letter released yesterday (Sep. 19), Nintendo explained that it alongside its subsidiary, The Pokémon Company, had filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against the Palworld developer.
The injunction reportedly seeks damages and compensation based on the fact Palworld infringes on “multiple patent rights.”
Image Credit: Pocketpair
In the letter, Nintendo explained that:
“Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”
Palworld is the hugely popular game released earlier this year, sometimes described as “Pokémon with guns.” However, compared to a Pokémon game, the title is a survival crafting experience combined with elements including monster-taming, third-person shooting, exploration, and more.
Why is Nintendo suing Palworld?
Image Credit: Nintendo
Some speculate that the lawsuit is based on the fact several of the designs of ‘Pals’ (the creatures you catch in Palworld) are similar to Pokémon designs. However, it’s also worth noting that the lawsuit points to “patent rights” rather than the copyrights that Pokémon designs would fall under.
As a result, others have suggested that Nintendo intends to sue Pocketpair for use of game mechanics. These could potentially include elements such as the stamina system used within Palworld that has more than a passing resemblance to the one in Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel.
It is also speculated that the move comes ahead of a Pokémon developed by The Pokémon Company that would use similar mechanics, and that Nintendo already owned the patents for.
Pocketpair’s response to Nintendo’s Lawsuit
On yesterday evening (Sep. 19) Pocketpair published an official response to the lawsuit on social media. In it they expressed that they had no idea what the “specific patents we are accused of infringing upon are, and we have not been notified of such details.”
They thanked fans and explained that they would be contesting the charges in court:
“It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.”
