Pocketpair reveals Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's requests in the Palworld lawsuit

The creators of Palworld, Pocketpair, have released further information concerning the lawsuit they are facing from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. The lawsuit alleges similarities between Pocketpair's survival game and the iconic Pokémon series.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company initiated legal action on September 19, citing violations of several patent rights, which occurred eight months post the release of Palworld.

While the specifics of these patents were initially undisclosed, Pocketpair has now clarified the three patents at the center of the dispute in a statement on their website.

The lawsuit seeks to halt Palworld's operations and demands compensation of at least ¥5 million (or about $33,683) for each company, alongside additional late payment penalties.

Pocketpair plans to contest the allegations, asserting, "We will continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings."

Industry speculation and insights from legal analyst Andrew Velzen, shared in GamesIndustry.biz, have identified the contested patents as:

• JP7545191: Pertains to a system for using items to capture characters in virtual environments
• JP7493117: Covers an aiming mechanism for deploying capturing items
• JP7528390: Involves a system for characters that can be ridden

Pocketpair's disclosure notes that all these patents were filed and registered post Palworld's initial release on January 19, 2024, a fact echoed in Velzen's GamesIndustry.biz article.

Velzen further mentioned that Nintendo has pursued similar patents in the United States, with some applications dating back to September 2022.

He highlighted the potential industry-wide impacts of this courtroom battle, stating, "In recent years, the video game industry has somewhat moved away from patents, especially for in-game features. If Nintendo is successful here, though, perhaps this paradigm could be in question."