Patent analyst Florian Mueller announced extensive examination in a lawsuit filed against The fading world developer Pocketpair from Nintendo. In it, he describes Nintendo’s actions as “a clear case of bullying” against Pocketpair, citing the former’s status as a “far older and larger company” with “extensive experience in patent prosecution and patent infringement litigation” (thanks, GameRant).
It was recently revealed that Nintendo will seek an injunction against Palworld to stop sales in Japan, with the added possibility that Nintendo may want to escalate the dispute in other jurisdictions. The company is also seeking a payout of ¥5 million with an additional ¥5 million going to the Pokémon Company, for a total of about $66,000. Although the monetary damages are said to be negligible, the ban could have the most long-term significance.
The problem, as Mueller pointed out, is that Nintendo didn’t identify any patents that actually existed at the time of Palworld’s release, and instead decided to file updated 2021 patent applications in February, March and July of this year and accelerate them to Japanese courts.
It has also been noted that none of the patents filed by Nintendo contain any significant technological inventions and are merely mechanics that Nintendo itself admits have been featured in other games. Instead, the patents are tied to specific game rules within the Pokémon franchise, and are therefore said to be ‘unpatentable’ anywhere in the world.
In conclusion, Mueller states that an analysis of the situation suggests that there is no actual plagiarism by Pocketpair, and that Nintendo’s actions are merely “an attempt to use the patent system against a smaller company and a late entrant.”
Speaking to GameRant, Mueller also says the lawsuit will likely take several years to resolve, so it looks like we’re in for the long haul.
