Pocketpair Declare Defense In ‘Pokémon’ Vs. ‘Palworld’ Lawsuit – Invalidating Nintendo’s Patents & Denying Infringement
Pocketpair has declared the materials they intend to use in court over Nintendo’s lawsuit against the company. While Nintendo claims Palworld infringes on gameplay patents for Pokémon, Pocketpair argues those patents shouldn’t have been granted in the first place, on top of never infringing upon them anyway.
Games Fray sent a Japanese patent lawyer to the Tokyo District Court, translating and analyzing what Pocketpair had submitted on February 21st (the site also provides a glossary for the legal terms). We’ll be summarizing even further, and attempting to keep it as layman’s as possible.
Pocketpair is making multiple arguments in their defense, “any single one of which could be sufficient on its own” (per Games Fray). They are essentially arguing that not only are Nintendo’s patents invalid, but they didn’t infringe upon them anyway.
The first major arguments are “invalidity contentions” – arguing that each of the Nintendo patents shouldn’t have been granted in the first place, due to “prior art.” In this case, proving that other games had used the patented mechanics before Nintendo claimed to have invented them.
Someone doing exactly the same thing before a patent would invalidate it, but typically, patents are overturned when there are two or more pieces of prior art, and combining them is obvious. Patents must be innovative.
To recap, the three Nintendo patents in question are 7545191, 7493117, and 7528390– all under Japanese law (there are equivalents under the US patent office). The first is regarding players throwing either an item to capture a creature (and the chance of success shown), or throwing out their own creature to battle. We’ll be calling that the “Catch and Release” patent for ease.
The second expands upon this, referring to aiming while throwing items or releasing creatures (we’ll call it the “Aiming” patent).
The third patent refers to riding your creatures, and smoothly switching between them depending on the terrain- e.g., taking a creature that runs on land, jumping into water, and switching to an aquatic creature. We’ll dub this the “Riding” patent.
All three are divisional patents- ways of expanding what an older patent covers, and completely legal. In fact, Nintendo had secured two more US patents for what Games Fray expects is the start of a similar patent infringement case in the US. For the ongoing Japanese case, the key date is the parent patent’s filing date of December 22nd, 2021- even if divisional patents were filed after the release of Palworld.
As previously reported, Pocketpair’s own Craftopia pre-dates Nintendo’s Catch and Release patent (having launched September 4th, 2020). However, Pocketpair brought multiple cases of prior art for each of the patents. Should one game on its own be insufficient, Pocketpair’s lawyers can argue a combination of games to prove Nintendo didn’t innovate- they only combined similar elements from two or more games.
If a patent is proved invalid, then it doesn’t matter if Pocketpair’s mechanics are exactly the same- the patent doesn’t stand.
For a further sting in the tail, the listed games include some of Nintendo’s work. As Games Fray explains, “their own publications can be held against those who apply for patents.” Even mods are listed as they are, “sometimes at the forefront of game innovation.”
We have also listed the year those games or mods were released in cases where Games Fray didn’t.
The three most important to Pocketpair across all three patents are their own Craftopia (2021), ARK: Survival Evolved (2017, although with a Pokémon mod), and a mod for Dark Souls 3 called Pocket Souls (2020). Nonetheless, there is a litany of titles involved that already did or “made it easy to imagine” what Nintendo patented.
Pocketpair claims the Catch and Release patent is undone by Craftopia, claiming anyone could combine it with other prior art to get to Nintendo’s own patent. They cite combining it with Titanfall 2 (2016), Pikmin 3 Deluxe (2020), and Rune Factory 5 (2021), where players can throw a capturing item or release a creature in a direction by pressing a button.
Far Cry 5 (2018), Pikmin 3 Deluxe, and Tomb Raider (1996, 2000, or 2013) showed different types of objects could be thrown. Pocket Souls, Octopath Traveler (2018), Monster Super League (2018), and Final Fantasy XIV (2022, when the patch introduced the mechanic) demonstrate seeing the success rate of a capture. Pocketpair also notes that for thirty years, Pokémon has had different capture items with different success rates.
They also note the Pixelmon mod for Minecraft (2012) as another starting point to combine with the above, or with Path of Exile (2013), Dragon Quest Builders (2016), and even Pokémon Legends: Arceus (2022). Yet another is ARK with its Pokémon mod and “well-known technology at the time.”
For the Aiming patent, Pocketpair turns to Pocket Souls, which can be further combined with Craftopia, Octopath Traveler, Monster Super League, Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Nexomon (2020), Monster Hunter 4G (2014), or the NukaMon mod for Fallout 4 (2016).
They can also start with NukaMon and combine that with Craftopia, Pocket Souls, or Pokémon Sword & Shield (2019).
For the Riding patent, Pocketpair can start and finish with ARK, Games Fray stating that “one doesn’t even have to combine it with other prior art references to declare that Nintendo patent invalid.” They can also turn to Riders of Icarus (2016), or ArcheAge (2013) with ARK, The Legend of Zelda (potentially the original 1986 title), or the Unity game engine (2005).
Pocketpair’s other legal defenses include the “Free technology defense.” Even Games Fray admits its complex, explaining “the patent can’t be infringed by what the accused embodiment does because the patent office that granted the patent would have expected the patented invention to have something that sets it apart from this.”
“In other words, what the accused product does would not have impressed the patent office at the time it granted the patent.” Games Fray further add that this piece of “hardcore patent law” is far less common than the invalidity defenses seen above.
The final major argument Pocketpair is making is that they didn’t infringe on the Nintendo patents. They had submitted their arguments for those three weeks before the invalidity arguments (January 31st).
Aside from highlighting the different genres (Pokémon being an RPG, Palworld being a survival and crafting game), they went into extreme detail highlighting the key differences between the patent and mechanics in Palworld. Some arguments may be harder to justify, however.
For the Catch and Release patent, Pocketpair note they don’t use a single button as the patent describes, they don’t have two different “states” (combat and non-combat), and that Pals don’t gather objects for the player when thrown out.
Pals admittedly can interact with objects built by the player in their base, assuming they have the right Work Suitability Skill to undertake the task. They can also work independently when left in the base. One such task is Transporting, where a Pal is seen physically picking up an item and carrying it to the relevant location.
Though in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, a Pokémon thown at an item will merely cause the item to be picked up instantly, as though the player did it themselves.
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For the Aiming patent, Pokémon has two modes that let you cycle through capture items or creatures to throw out. In Palworld, Pocketpair notes you can’t. Back in February, Japanese patent attorney Ryo Arashi felt Nintendo tried to get the Catch and Release patent, as the Aiming patent’s mentioning of “modes” hindered their case.
Pocketpair also notes that Palworld’s “second operation input” is different. For Nintendo, it’s using an alternative directional input to choose different items to throw. Pocketpair argues they didn’t use the Left Trigger to cycle through options. They also note players can’t ride a flying Pal in mid-air. It should be noted that players can, however, grab onto a glider item mid-jump, and therefore Pals that can glide (not fly).
It should also be considered that in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, players cannot truly fly, as the Braviary slowly descends (impossible to gain height). The move Fly works as a way to teleport between cities, and Soaring in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire (while it does have some play with elevation) is effectively another map that can take players to any location.
Games Fray concludes, noting that “a single such argument [invalidity and non-infringement] for a given patent is enough to be cleared with respect to that patent,” though Pocketpair needs to succeed on three different patents. They also note Nintendo is likely making their own strides for their case, such as making further patents, and working on a US lawsuit.
Regardless of how confident Pocketpair is in their defense, the company has already made preparations for the worst. Palworld Patch v0.3.11 removed the ability to summon a Pal from a Pal Sphere in November last year. The developer also announced on May 8th this year that the upcoming Patch v0.5.5 will remove gliding Pals (they will still provide a buff to the glider item).
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