In the wake of more Pokémon patent filings from Nintendo, experts are predicting that the Japanese developer is looking to take their lawsuit against Palworld to the US.
As reported by Yahoo Japan and translated by Automaton Media, patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara has posited that a US patent infringement may soon be filed alongside the Japanese original.
As previously reported, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have alleged that in their development of Palworld. developer Pocketpair violated several of their divisional patents related to ‘third person monster-catching-and-releasing’ mechanics.
While these divisional patents were filed after Palworld‘s Early Access launch,the fact that the current system allows for such patents to cite the approval date of their parent patent as their own has allowed Nintendo to ‘retroactively’ file suit against Pocketpair.
In the US, two of these relevant patents are 20240286040 and 20240278129, both of which have been filed but are notably still pending.
To this end, as explained by Kurihara, the former has also already received a non-final rejection, as Section 101 of the US Patent Act explicitly states that abstract ideas cannot be considered patentable in either the US or Japan.
However, the US usually treats software-related concepts as abstract, while Japan usually doesn’t reject patents for being abstract (usually lacking novelty or originality).
“At present,” said Kurihara, “it can be said that [examination of software-related inventions] is generally stricter in the US than in Japan.”
Given how the Nintendo and The Pokémon Company seem to be rushing to get their US patents sorted, Kurihara theorizes that they are preparing to file a similar patent infringement case in the US.
Even so, he feels they have a tightrope act of amending patents to avoid rejection while remaining usable in court.
Andrew Velzen, in an editorial for GamesIndustry.biz, also notes those US patents (under the application numbers 18/652,874 and 18/652,883) were both filed after the launch of PalWorld, with both receiving requests for Track One service to expedite the process.
Velzen notes they were both rejected in July of this year, and have until mid and late October to amend the patents to remain under Track One.
According to Velez, “If Nintendo’s litigation proceeds reasonably successfully in Japan and no global settlement is reached and the claims in the patent applications above do not require substantial modification in order to arrive at allowance, Nintendo will undoubtedly have the opportunity to file a similar suit for patent infringement in the U.S.”
“These are, admittedly, two pretty substantial ‘ifs,’ ” he relents. “Regardless, though, I think we are seeing just how seriously Nintendo views the threat of Palworld.”
Likewise, industry analyst Dr Serkan Toto told Games Radar “You cannot do this with Nintendo. I understand that Nintendo was foaming at the mouth, saying, ‘Look, these guys are going multiplatform, and they’re making anime and merchandising their Pals.’ And Nintendo felt threatened or disrespected or just angry, and they dropped this bomb on them.”
Dr. Toto further explained that Nintendo have a wide number of patents, and “could have sued half of the gaming industry back in 2017,” yet only flex their legal muscle when they feel threatened (Many fans have pointed to Shigeru Miyamoto’s previous desire to patent the concept of jumping in video games as evidence to this theory).
Indeed, while the Pokémon franchise has been slammed for recent games being of poor quality despite the franchise being the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, Palworld achieved 25 million players just one month after launch. Estimates calculate Pocketpair made $215.92 million in revenue in just over two months.
They also began to encroach even further on Nintendo’s territory by announcing in July that they would pursue merchandise and animations alongside Sony and Aniplex.
As of the lawsuit’s most recent update, Pocketpair is still waiting for Nintendo to inform them of which exact patents they are accused of infringing.