Summary
NintendoandThe Pokemon Companyhave revealed that they have filed a joint patent infringement lawsuit againstPalworlddeveloper Pocketpair, claiming that the game “infringes multiple patent rights.” Nintendo announced the joint lawsuit viaa new post on the Nintendo Japan website.
In the post, Nintendo explains that the lawsuit was filed in the Tokyo District Court on September 18 against Pocketpair, and seeks an injunction against infringement as well as compensation for damages. Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are claiming compensation on the grounds that Palworld “infringes multiple patent rights.”
In the same post, Nintendo claims that it will “continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights,” and will protect the IP that “it has worked hard to establish over the years.” That’s all the information that the post is willing to give us at this time, and Pocketpair has yet to respond publicly about the situation.
Nintendo Is Actually Filing A Lawsuit Against Palworld
Nintendo actually doing something about Palworld has been a source of speculation for quite some time, as comparisons to Pokemon were being made even before release. After it launched in early access earlier this year, the Pokemon community began investigating many of the game’s monster designs, claiming that they wereextremely similar to certain Pokemon and calling them “incredibly shady and lazy.”
So much noise surrounded Palworld that it forced Nintendo itself into making a statement. Nintendo claimed that it had “received many inquiries” regarding potential plagiarism in Palword,and that it had begun investigating the game and Pocketpair, promising “appropriate measures” if Pokemon intellectual property had been infringed. That was back in January, and it was also the last we heard of Pocketpair potentially running into legal trouble.
Of course, legal issues such as this can take a long time, and the fact that a lawsuit has only just been filed - nine months after the game’s launch in early access - is evidence of that. We don’t know what will happen to Palworld if Nintendo is successful with this lawsuit, but we can almost guarantee that it’ll take just as long - if not longer - to see the outcome.
Palworld
WHERE TO PLAY
Palworld has been described as Pokemon with guns and well, it’s hard to argue with that. The game is very similar in nature to the Pokemon formula, tasking you with catching and working with monsters called Pals. There are key differences, though. Palworld is rooted in multiplayer, oh, and, unlike Pokemon, its Pals have guns.
