Nintendo patents features that Palworld had for a long time. A strange twist in a high-profile court battle
The lawsuit in Japan against Pocketpair is still ongoing, but it's possible that the case with the Palworld developers isn't going as smoothly for Nintendo as some people thought.
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The Pokemon Company has not yet had the last word in the fight against "copyright infringements" by the creators of Palworld.
Since the recent changes made by Pocketpair studio and the owner of Pokemon's objections, there hasn't been much talk about the ongoing legal battle. The players weren't at all thrilled with these concessions, but the latest information from Gamesfray (via Windows Central) indicates that Nintendo and company are not sure of victory.
Patent updated
Referring to the opinions of experts who have delved into the official documentation, Gamesfray's editorial team points out some "strange" moves by the company, not just those directly related to the TPC lawsuit. In Japan, 3 patents are the subject of a lawsuit: two related to catching Pals, one concerning the option of changing the "mount." Nintendo hasn't yet filed a lawsuit in the US, but it has obtained patents, based on which Pocketpair was forced to make changes to Palworld.
The thing is, some of those solutions were shown in Palworld half a year before Nintendo patented them (or in some cases, even before they submitted the relevant applications). That's why, as reported by Gamesfray, the publisher of Pokemon is said to have filed a request to update the patent with the JPO (Japan Patent Office).
This is quite unusual, but Florian Mueller, the founder of Gamesfray, also points out a strange provision in the updated patent application, which is not typical for this kind of legal document. In his opinion, this is a "desperate move" by Nintendo, which apparently is uncertain of victory in the court battle.
Let's make it clear that this is Mueller's interpretation, but many people who have read the new patent application agree that it is written in a way that overly complicates the interpretation. Nonetheless, it is far too early to speculate on the final verdict in this case based on this. So far, the only fact is the continued concessions of Pocketpair in Palworld (and a big crossover with Terraria).
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Author: Jacob Blazewicz
Graduated with a master's degree in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw with a thesis dedicated to this very subject. Started his adventure with gamepressure.com in 2015, writing in the Newsroom and later also in the film and technology sections (also contributed to the Encyclopedia). Interested in video games (and not only video games) for years. He began with platform games and, to this day, remains a big fan of them (including Metroidvania). Also shows interest in card games (including paper), fighting games, soulslikes, and basically everything about games as such. Marvels at pixelated characters from games dating back to the time of the Game Boy (if not older).
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