Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sue Palworld developer over patent infringement

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Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sue Palworld developer over patent infringement

Eight months after Palworld brought us "Pokémon with guns," Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a lawsuit against developer Pocketpair.

Tom West

Published 19 Sep 2024

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Following its launch into Xbox Game Pass earlier this year, we saw a wave of players begin unlocking the Palworld achievements. While the Xbox open-world game quickly became a popular monster-catcher, the similarities between some of its Pals and some Pokémon were hard to ignore. Now, The Pokémon Company have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against developer Pocketpair.

Pocketpair hit with an infringement lawsuit from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company

Soon after Palworld's launch in January, The Pokémon Company released a statement saying that it intended "to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon." Palworld wasn't specifically named, but it was clear that The Pokemon Company was referencing Pocketpair's game. Things have been quiet in the roughly eight months since, with Palworld continuing to receive updates and new Pals, but now Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have taken action against the developer.

A statement shared on Nintendo's website, confirms that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed the lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair on September 18.

"This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights," the statement reads. "Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years."

We don't yet know which patent rights Nintendo and The Pokemon Company feel have been infringed upon, and it seems that Pocketpair doesn't know either. In a statement shared on social media, Pocketpair says it has received notice of a lawsuit filed against it and will begin investigations and proceedings into the claims.

"At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details," Pocketpair says. "Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.

"It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused.

"As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair."
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Written by Tom West
Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.