‘Extremely likely’ Nintendo patent claims developed specifically against Palworld, says intellectual property expert

Following last week’s shocking announcement that Nintendo is suing Palworld’s maker Pocketpair for infringing “multiple patent rights,” an intellectual property expert said it’s “extremely likely” that Nintendo crafted its patent applications specifically with Palworld in mind.

Writing for Gamesindustry.biz, Andrew Velzen – an associate at the law firm MBHB – began by summarizing some of the intellectual property discoveries that legal experts have made since news of the Nintendo lawsuit broke last week, starting with four key patent applications highlighted by the Japanese lawyer Kiyoshi Kurihara.

All of these patent claims, Velzen explains, relate to various aspects of catching and/or riding “combat characters,” “ridable airborne characters,” and “field characters” using “player characters.” existing “parent” patents from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company After Palworld release and were expedited for release using Japanese accelerated examination procedures.

However, Velzen notes that Nintendo didn’t stop there. The company also filed two similar patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in May 2024, again after the release of Palworld and several months after The Pokémon Company announced that it would be investigating whether Palworld infringes any “Pokémon-related intellectual property rights” “.

One of these US patent applications (US-App-3) covers the in-game act of throwing a “catching object” or “fighting character” in a virtual space, while the other (US-App-4) focuses on boarding an object – selected from several objects that the player character has – in order to give instructions to move it, with specific mention that this happens in the air. As with Japanese patent claims, Nintendo paid to significantly expedite the processing of its patent claims.

“Based on this information,” Velzen says, “it is not very speculative to assume that Nintendo filed (U.S. patent applications) with the intention of attacking Palworld.” He adds that “it is extremely likely that these claims were made with aspects of Palworld in mind.”

While Nintendo’s lawsuit is currently directed solely at Japan, Velzen notes that it is interesting that both of the company’s U.S. patent claims were rejected in the expedited examination process – the US-3 application “solely due to lack of subject matter eligibility” and the U.S. application – 4 for “obviousness.” Nintendo still has until October to change its claims and/or counter the denial to try to get its proposals across the finish line.

“If (i) Nintendo’s legal proceedings proceed reasonably successfully in Japan and no global resolution is reached, and (ii) the claims contained in the above patent applications do not require significant modifications to be successful, Nintendo will undoubtedly have the opportunity to file a similar lawsuit for patent infringement in the US,” Velzen explains, then adds: “Those are, admittedly, two pretty significant ifs.”

“But regardless,” he continues, “I think we can see how seriously Nintendo views the threat from Palworld.”

In a statement last week, Palworld developer Pocketpair confirmed it had received notice of Nintendo’s legal action, but said it was “not aware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing.” However, he vowed to fight Nintendo’s lawsuit to ensure that small studios “are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing creative ideas.”

The developer also released Palworld on PS5 in 68 countries and regions this week, though Japan was not one of them, which many believe Nintendo’s lawsuit is to blame.