Nintendo has been denied a patent application that would have allowed it to own the game's character or creature capture mechanics, such as those found in the Pokemon games.
According to GamesThe patent was filed in March 2024, a few months before the high-profile lawsuit against developer Palworld Pocketpair, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) issued a “service complaint” suggesting that Nintendo's attempt to defend the patent was rejected after an undisclosed third-party submission of prior art “established that the claimed technology does not involve an inventive step.”
While not yet final, it suggests that the JPO may reject Nintendo's patent application given claims that the ability to catch creatures existed before the Japanese company filed the patent, including “ARK from Studio Wildcard, Monster Hunter 4 from Capcom, Craftopia from Pocketpair, a Japanese browser game called Kantai Collection, and Pokémon Go.” Nintendo will most likely now have to amend its documents.
Games Fray suggests this will not directly impact the suit against Palworld, but could have broader implications for the original patent application and other applications based on it.
Nintendo filed a lawsuit against developer Palworld Pocketpair for violating “multiple patent rights” back in September 2024.. At the time, Nintendo sought “an injunction for copyright infringement and damages on the grounds that the game Palworld, developed and published by defendant, infringes numerous patent rights.” This is recent argued that mods should not be considered “prior art”.
