Palworld developer Pocketpair has provided an update on its ongoing legal battle with a consortium of Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, claiming to have revealed the exact patents the game about best friends is accused of infringing.
In case you and your friends have been living under a rock, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair over Palworld in September, claiming that the game “infringes multiple patents.” There’s a lot of speculation about how it will play out, but all we can do is wait and see.
iGamesNews
Now, Pocketpair has published a report on its website outlining some of the alleged details surrounding the ongoing legal action. “The plaintiff claims that our release of Palworld on January 19, 2024 infringes the following three patents held by the plaintiff,” it writes, “and is seeking an injunction against the game and compensation for damages incurred prior to patent registration. between the date of filing of this lawsuit and the date of filing of this lawsuit.”
What follows is the most interesting, as Pocketpair goes on to identify the three patents, revealing that they are Nintendo patents 7545191, 7493117, and 7528390. I know, all of this immediately set off alarm bells for me too. At least the first one – 7545191 – isn’t that mysterious, with Automaton reporting that it appears to have something to do with the gameplay mechanic of catching in-game characters (in the case of Pokemon) by throwing objects (in the case of Pokemon, that’s Pokemon) ball), which if the move is successful, allows the player to possess them.
The application and registration dates for all three platforms are between early February and the end of August 2024, meaning all of this happens after Palworld’s initial launch, although ports to other platforms have apparently arrived subsequently.
In addition to the above-mentioned injunction against Palworld, Pocketpair also detailed that it is seeking to pay “5 million yen plus late payment damages” to Nintendo and TPC respectively in the lawsuit, which means that if it loses the lawsuit, Pocketpair will face a full compensation, which may be one About ten million yen.
“We will continue to defend our position in this case through future legal proceedings,” Pocketpair said near the end of its post.
