Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent lawsuit against the developers of Palworld and accused them of violating intellectual property rights.
On September 18, 2024, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, the developer of the Palworld game. The plaintiffs seek an injunction against the infringement of their rights and damages caused by the alleged illegal use of Pokémon intellectual property.
The conflict began in January, when The Pokémon Company said about their intention to investigate the similarities between Palworld and their franchise. At the same time, Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa promised to defend the company’s rights without specifically naming Pocketpair or Palworld.
У press release Nintendo noted:
«This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and damages on the grounds that the defendant’s game Palworld infringed several patent rights».
The company did not disclose details about the specific patents that it believes were infringed.
After the announcement of the lawsuit, Pocketpair’s global community manager Bucky posted a tweet with a smiley face on the social network, which he later deleted. There was no official response from Pocketpair.
Lawyer Richard Goeg commented on the situation to Dexertor, emphasizing that the lawsuit concerns patent infringement, not copyright or trademark infringement. He noted that for a more detailed analysis it is necessary to wait until the full text of the lawsuit is published.
As a reminder, after the viral release of Palworld, the game was accused of copying Pokemon. Users noticed that many of the game’s creatures bear a striking resemblance to Nintendo’s Pokemon. This similarity sparked heated discussions in the gaming community and attracted the attention of the Pokemon franchise copyright holders.
Source: Dexerto, Gamesradar